
WHITMAN'S 
RIDE THROUGH 
SAVAGE LANDS 



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F CANNOT LEAVE THE LIBRARY. 

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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



h-y^ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. cmM 



whitman's 
Ride Through Savage Lands 




OLIVER WOODSON NIXON. M. D.. LL. D. 



Whitman's 
Ride Through Savage Lands 

with 

Sketches of Indian Life 
O. W. Nixon, M.D., LL.D. 

Author ot "How Marcus Whitman Saved Oregon." "The Mountain 
Meadows," Etc. 



Introduction by 
James G. K. McClure, D.D., LL.D. 



Profusely Illustrated 



Published by 
The Winona Publishing Company 

1905 






TH£ U'SH'^-^y Of 

CONGRESS. 
One Copv Rfece.vgo 

AiJG. ](} 1905 

3. fqo^ 



M. 



CLASS C^ XXa No, 
COPY A. 



Copyright, iqos, by 
THE WINONA PUBLISHING COMPANY 




(/ 



1 



PREFACE 

I RESPOND with pleasure to the invitation to 
write a series oj sketches of pioneer missionary 
history of early Oregon for young people. Its 
romantic beginnings, of the Indian's demand for 
^Hhe white man's hook of heaven,^^ and especially 
to mark the heroic act of one who, in obedience to a 
power higher than man, made the most perilous jour- 
ney through savage lands recorded in history. The 
same leading facts of history I have before used in my 
larger work, ^^How Marcus Whitman Saved Oregon.^^ 
In this I have simplified the story by omitting all 
discussions with critics and historians, stated only 
as much of historic conditions as would make clear 
the surroundings, and have interwoven with all, real 
incidents from wilderness and savage life. They are 
not only the experiences of the heroic characters, but 
some of my own when the West was wild more 
than a half a century ago. 

O. W. N. 
Biloxi, Miss., January, igoj. 



INTRODUCTION 



NO character in Sir Walter Scott's tales 
appeals more directly to my heart than 
''Old Mortality." He had a high and 
noble mission, to make live again the old-time 
worthies, and to keep in remembrance the brave 
deeds of the past. Any man who follows in his 
footsteps, and makes the world see in vivid light the 
heroes of another day, is to me a public benefactor. 
When, then. Dr. Nixon writes of ''Whitman's 
Ride Through Savage Lands," and shows the 
force, wisdom, and unselfishness of Dr. Marcus 
Whitman and his accomplished wife, I feel like 
doing everything within my power to express my 
gratitude and to secure the reading of his book. 

The tale, as he tells it, is very interesting. It 
is a tale that has been often in the mind of the 
American public of late years, but it cannot be too 
often told nor too often pondered. It has in it the 
very elements that nurture bravery and patriotism. 
Dr. Nixon tells it well. In simple, straightfor- 
ward language he gives us the whole story of Dr. 
Whitman's life-career, indicating the forces that 

3 



Whitman's Ride 



inspired him and the results that attended his 
efforts. Dr. Nixon sees in the events of the story 
the guiding and determining hand of Providence. 
With a wisdom justified by the needs of the ordi- 
nary human mind he calls attention to the part God 
himself had in the career of his hero, and thus he 
gives to his story an uplifting significance which a 
thoughtless reader might fail to note. 

It is the glory of our American life that every 
part of our land has its splendid heroes. The 
Atlantic and Pacific coasts are one in having been 
the scenes where courage and devotion have ex- 
pressed themselves. The earlier years of our 
national history brought into recognition the deeds 
of greatness done in the East. These later years 
are being used to make manifest the endurance and 
manliness that marked so much of settlement and 
progress in the West. Plymouth deserves its 
monument to the Pilgrims. So does Walla Walla 
deserve its monument to Dr. Marcus Whitman. 
From boundary to boundary of our wide domain 
we have had heroes, the stories of whose lives tend 
to make devotion to duty and allegiance to God 
transcendently beautiful. 

Among such stories this of Dr. Whitman has 
high place. The personality of the author of it 
comes often to the front in his pages, but none too 
often. His own experiences serve to heighten the 



Introduction 



effect of the story, and give deeper impression to 
the facts narrated. 

I look forward to the influence of this book with 
pleasure. I see boys and girls rising from the 
reading of it with clearer views of self-sacrifice, and 
with a more determined purpose to make their 
lives daring for the good. 

The book carries with it a conviction of the 
worth of the best things, that is most healthy. It 
teaches important lessons concerning missionary 
helpfulness, that the reader accepts without being 
aware of the author's purpose. 

A nation to have the lion's heart must be fed 
on lion's food. The story of Dr. Whitman is 
such food as may well nourish the lion heart in all 
youth, and develop in our American homes the 
noblest and most attractive Christian virtues. 

James G. K. McClure. 

Lake Forest, Illinois. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I 

The Lewis and Clark Centenary Exposition 
IN Portland — The Great Captains — Their 
Guides, Chabonneau and Sacajawea (The 
Bird- Woman) - - - - - - 13 

CHAPTER II 

The Visit of the Flathead Indian Chiefs to 
St. Louis — Is the Story Authentic? — Inci- 
dents — Death of Two Chiefs — The Ban- 
quet Speech — Sketches of Indian Life - 22 

CHAPTER III 

The Effect of the Banquet Speech — How it 
Moved Christian People — The American 
Board Sends Drs. Parker and Whitman 
to Investigate — Whitman's Indian Boys 
— His Marriage and Second Journey - 36 

CHAPTER IV 

Old Click - Click - Clackety - Clackety, the 
Historic Wagon — Camping and Incidents, 
and the End of the Journey - - - 61 
7 



Whitman's Ride 



CHAPTER V 

The Home-coming— The Beginning of Mission- 
ary Life — Clarissa--The Little White 
Cayuse Queen — Her Death — Sketches of 
Daily Events 74 



CHAPTER VI 

Brief Sketch of Discovery and History of the 
Oregon Country — Who Owned — By What 
Title — The Various Treaties— The Final 
Contest 



CHAPTER VII 

Why the United States Dickered with Eng- 
land FOR Half a Century Before Asserting 
HER Rights — American Statesmen had a 
Small Appreciation of the Value of Ore- 
gon, AND WERE Opposed to Expansion - 96 

CHAPTER VIII 

The Conditions of Oregon in 1842 — The Ar- 
rival OF American Immigrants at Whit- 
man's Mission— The News They Brought 
— Whitman's Great Winter Ride to Wash- 
ington — Incidents of the Journey — 
Reaches the Capital . _ . - ia|. 



Contents 9 

CHAPTER IX 

Whitman in Washington — His Conference 
WITH President Tyler, Secretary Web- 
ster, AND Secretary of War Porter — Visits 
Greeley in New York, and the American 
Board — Rests, and Returns to the Fron- 
tier 129 

CHAPTER X 

Whitman Joins the Great Emigrating Column 
— News of its Safe Arrival in Oregon 
Reaches Washington in 1844 — Its Effect 
Upon the People, and Oregon's Impor- 
tance Acknowledged — The Political Con- 
test — The Massacre at Waiilatpuan - - 148 

CHAPTER XI 

The Memorials to Whitman — Why Delayed — 
Why History was not Sooner Written — 
Whitman College the Grand Monument - 172 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



FACING PAGE 

Oliver Woodson Nixon - - Frontispiece 

Sacajawea (the Bird- Woman) - - - - i6 
Cascades of the Columbia (B. H. Gifford, 

Photo.) - - - - - - - -22 

Strange Visitors in Old St. Louis - - 28 

An Indian Welcome ------ 40 

Pacific Springs, July 4, 1835 - - - - 57 

The Toilsome Trail to Oregon - - - 64 
]Mt. Tacoma, from Longmire Springs (the 

home of Nekahni) ------ 80 

Lake Chelan, First View of the Snowy 

Peaks -------- 100 

Lost in the Rockies - - - - - 118 

Whitman Crossing Grand River - - - 132- 

Marmaduke Island (B. H. Gifford, Photo.) - 140 

The Assassination of Dr. Whitman - - 152' 

Dr. D. K. Pearsons ------ 164^ 

Memorial Hall, Whitman College - - 176 
Young Men's Dormitory, Whitman College- 176 
Rev. S. B. L. Penrose, President of Whit- 
man College - - - - - - 182 



II 



CHAPTER I 



The Lewis and Clark Centenary Exposition in Port- 
land. The Great Captains. Their Guides^ Hoe 
Noo Chee and Sacajawea {The Bird-Woman). 

A GREAT Exposition of the arts and indus- 
tries of the whole wide world is to be held 
this summer in the beautiful city of Port- 
land, Oregon. It is to commemorate the grand 
achievement of a few brave men and one brave 
woman, who lived, labored, and conquered a cen- 
tury ago. At the call of their commander, they 
exiled themselves from home and friends; they 
crossed the wide deserts, climbed through gorges 
and peaks of the "great Stony Mountains," strug- 
gled through the pathless forests of giant firs, lived 
among wild beasts, and wilder men, until they 
reached the pathless Pacific Ocean — that was then 
but a waste of water, where great whales sported 
and the seals found abundance of food amid rocky 
shores and islands for safe homes. Now teeming 
multitudes inhabit the fertile plains; through the 
rugged mountains pass the great highways of the 
world — along the charted coast are many ports, 
where white-winged fleets lie at anchor and the 

13 



14 Whitman's Ride 

great black freighters load and unload the commerce 
of many lands. But Portland still retains many of 
the old landmarks. The beautiful Columbia River 
still flows by it to the sea, forests are not far away, 
and **the everlasting hills" are about it, v^^ith their 
white-capped peaks piercing the sky. 

A hundred years ago, a vast and unknown 
wilderness stretched from the Mississippi to the 
Pacific Ocean — it was a land of mystery of un- 
known extent. Millions of wild cattle that we call 
buffaloes roamed over its plains, wild beasts hid away 
in its mountain fastnesses, the beavers and otters 
built their homes along its rivers, and wild tribes 
of savage men made pitiless war upon each other, 
though not destitute of many noble traits of char- 
acter. The young republic of United States had 
far more territory east of the Mississippi than they 
could manage or protect, so gave small care or 
thought to what lay beyond. But one thing they 
had learned, that, for their own safety from foreign 
aggression, and the protection of their commerce, 
they must gain possession and control of the great 
river. Thomas Jefferson, that wise and far-seeing 
statesman whose name and fame grow as the years 
go on, was President at that memorable time of 
great opportunities, and through his influence with 
Congress induced them to make the great Louisiana 
purchase, which gave to our government the South- 



The Lewis and Clark Exposition 15 

em and Gulf states, the control of the Mississippi 
River, and, as Jefferson believed and claimed, the 
whole country to the Pacific Ocean. He had, 
perhaps, but little knowledge of its vastness or its 
value, but it has been said that his friend, the great 
naturalist Audubon, who wandered up and down 
the world searching out its wonders and beauties, 
had told him many things about the great western 
country. So he again appealed to Congress for an 
appropriation to send out an expedition to learn 
something of the nature and value of their new 
possessions. The pitiful sum of two thousand five 
hundred dollars was allowed. Captains Lewis and 
Clark of the United States army were selected to 
lead the expedition, and with them were sent a 
botanist, a geologist, an engineer, and some soldiers, 
who were required each to make a full report of 
their journey, which took three years to accom- 
plish. It is significant of the indifference of the 
government in the matter that these reports were 
sent to Washington and were laid aside for several 
years when — through Jefferson's influence again — 
the captains' reports were handed over to Richard 
Biddle of Philadelphia, who made a brief abstract 
of them, constituting one small volume, that passed 
for many years as an account of the Lewis and 
Clark exploration, and it has not been until within 
the past three years that any genuine copy of these 



1 6 Whitman's Ride 



reports has ever been pubHsheJ. It is small 
wonder then that thirty years later Oregon remained 
an almost unknown and unclaimed country. The 
young captains and their company, full of enthusi- 
asm for their work, made their preparations and 
purchased their supplies, mostly at their own ex- 
pense, and left the last marks of civilization at 
St. Louis in the spring of 1804. 

The heroic little company made its first 
winter camp at Fort Mandan on the Upper 
Missouri, ready for an early start in the spring. 
The success of the expedition in a strange land 
through the long line of savage tribes was de- 
pendent largely upon a good guide and inter- 
preter. Lewis and Clark had secured Toussaint 
Chabonneau, a Frenchman, who had renounced 
civilized life, married, and settled among the 
Indians. He had traveled over wide stretches of 
country, and had a small knowledge of the language 
of several tribes. Sacajawea, the wife of Chabon- 
neau, was a handsome Indian girl of seventeen years. 
She had been captured by the Minitaree Indians 
when a small child, from the Shoshone Indians far 
up in the Rocky Mountain region, held by them as 
a slave, and sold to the Frenchman who made her 
his wife. Sacajawea was delighted with the pros- 
pect of again journeying toward her old home, but 
continued to do the menial work for the company, 




SACAJAWEA (THE BIRD- WOMAN). 

Guide of the Lewis & Clark Expedition. 



The Lewis and Clark Exposition 17 

as is customary for Indian women. Captains Lewis 
and Clark, before many weeks upon their jour- 
ney, saw that their real guide and interpreter was 
not Chabonneau, but Sacajawea, his wife. Their 
way along the great river proved the identical 
route which the captive child had taken from her 
home into slavery, and with Indian nature and 
sagacity, every notable spot remained in her 
memory. She told them of the streams in advance 
that flowed into the great river, and the tribes 
through which they were to pass; she told them 
her history; she was the daughter of the great 
chief of the Shoshone Indians, who were rich in 
land and horses. They owned large possessions 
reaching to the foot of the Rockies, to which they 
came during the summer months. It was there 
where she became a prisoner. When they reached 
the place she ran like a child and pointed out the 
spot in the bushes where -she hid to escape her 
enemies. 

Captain Lewis said: "Our hope now is to 
find these Shoshones and their horses. Here 
we must leave our boats and prepare for moun- 
tain and land travel." Sacajawea explained the 
habits of her tribe the best she could, but it was a 
vast wilderness by which the company was sur- 
rounded. Both Captains Lewis and Clark with 
their best men scoured the country, and finally 



1 8 Whitman's Rid( 



succeeded in finding the Shoshones, who had fled 
from their supposed enemies. They were led 
before the great chief Cameahowait. There they 
told of Sacajawea as best they could, which at once 
aroused attention. The chief ordered horses and 
provisions, and with many friends of the lost princess 
they went with Captain Lewis and his men to 
camp. Sacajawea recognized her brother, now 
head chief of the tribe, and as well the playmates 
of her childhood, and with tears in her eyes, and 
dancing with joy, she embraced them. The talk 
was long, for the Indian girl had to learn the fate 
of her family and friends. Had she desired she 
might have remained and resumed an easy life 
with her tribe. 

Nothing now was too good for the white men, 
for they were brothers and friends. Sacajawea was 
their interpreter, and they received everything they 
needed for comfort, such as provisions and horses, 
for the journey to the Pacific and the return. 

In meeting the many savage tribes and asking 
favors and permission to travel in safety through 
their domains, it was not the flag nor the guns they 
carried, but Sacajawea with the papoose upon her 
back and her wise diplomacy that opened the way 
and made them welcome. Upon the home jour- 
ney the little Indian girl rode ahead with the cap- 
tains, having richly earned her honors and the love 



The Lewis and Clark Exposition 19 

of all. When the journey came to an end, Captains 
Lewis and Clark begged that Sacajawea and her 
husband accompany them to Washington, but 
Chabonneau preferred the wild life he had chosen, 
and the brave little woman dropped from civilized 
history. 

Well may the women of beautiful Oregon in the 
coming Centennial take an honest pride in com- 
memoration of the deeds of Sacajawea. It is most 
appropriate that the beautiful bronze to be then 
erected to her memory has been designed and exe- 
cuted by an American woman, Miss Alice Cooper, 
of Denver. 

We copy these stanzas of a poem by Bert Hoff- 
man, who epitomizes admirably the reasons for 
Sacajawea's- honored place in this Centennial history: 

Sacajawea. 

**The wreath of Triumph give to her; 

She led the conquering captains West; 
She charted first the trails that led 

The hosts across yon mountain'^crest ! 
Barefoot she toiled the forest paths, 

Where now the course of Empire speeds; 
Can you forget, loved Western land. 

The glory of her deathless deeds? 

**In yonder city, glory crowned, 

Where art will vie with art to keep 
The memories of those heroes green — 
The flush of conscious pride should leap 



20 Whitman's Ride 



To see her fair memorial stand 

Among the honored names that be — 

Her face toward the sunset, still — 
Her finger lifted toward the sea ! 

"Beside you on Fame's pedestal, 

Be hers the glorious fate to stand — 
Bronzed, barefoot, yet a patron saint. 

The keys of empire in her hand 1 
The mountain gates that closed to you 

Swung open, as she led the way, — 
So let her lead that hero host 

When comes their glad memorial day!" 

The heroic explorers of a century ago richly 
earned the honors they are now to receive, and 
wherever and whenever the names of Lewis and 
Clark are spoken or written in honor there also 
should be the name of Sacajawea, the Indian girl 
of the wilderness. 

Thus the crowning success of the great expedi- 
tion which gave the United States its second strong 
legal claim to the whole grand Oregon country was 
shared by the brave, true, diplomatic Sacajawea 
(*'the bird-woman"). Readers of the complete 
story to follow will not need to be reminded that 
the heroes and heroines who thirty years later 
braved danger and death to save beautiful Oregon 
to the Union were only making sure the grand work 
thus inaugurated. 

In course of time vessels on voyages of discov- 
ery drifted around Cape Horn, sailed up the long 



The Lewis and Clark Exposition 21 

coast line of the Americas, always searching for 
that which would bring them wealth. Finding the 
immense quantities of furs gathered by Indians in 
the Oregon country, both the Americans and the 
English established trading-posts on the coast. 
The great Astor fortune that still remains in the 
family had its origin there. But the English had 
more money, more men, and more ships than the 
Americans, and before many years they ruled alone 
and the great "Hudson Bay Company" ruled the 
land. They established trading-posts eastward, 
and fleets of vessels carried the rich spoils of forest 
and ocean to all the countries of the world. At 
the time of the beginning of our story Dr. John 
McLoughlin was chief factor of the ''Hudson Bay 
Company" and virtual king of the country. He 
was a noble old Scotchman, who had married an 
Indian wife to whom he was loyal and true all his 
life. He was kind and just to red men as well as 
white, and always ready to hold out a helping hand 
to all who came to him. But he served the English 
government and was always careful that no rivalry 
to the company he served should be allowed in the 
territory they claimed. 



CHAPTER II 



The Visit oj the Flathead Ind'ian Chiefs to St. Louis. 
Was the Story Authentic P Incidents — the Ban- 
quet Speech — Sketches oj Indian Life and Charac- 
ter. Hoo Goo Ahu and Sacajawea. 

IT was a beautiful morning in the closing days 
of October, 1831. The trees about St. Louis 
were robed in their gorgeous autumnal foliage. 
High above came the "honk, honk, honk" of the 
wild geese, as in long, straight lines or in letter V's, 
they winged their way southward, while the birds 
were gathering in groups, chattering and arranging 
for their winter outing in warmer lands. The resi- 
dents of the city were just arousing from their sleep, 
smoke was beginning to curl above the chim- 
neys, shutters and doors were being opened for 
business activities, when the strange scene was 
presented of four Flathead Indian Chiefs, march- 
ing solemnly single file down the middle of one of the 
principal streets. At that date the now prosper- 
ous and great city of St. Louis was but a ''fron- 
tier town," mainly noted as a military station, and 
Indians were not uncommon, as all the great and 



Flathead Indian Chiefs at St. Louis 23 

fertile country north and west was occupied by 
them. But these were new and unusual in ap- 
pearance, and attracted attention. Their bare 
heads in front were as flat as boards, and their long 
hair was interwoven with eagle quills; their dress 
and dignified bearing all indicated notable men 
from some far-distant tribe that the people had not 
before seen. 

General George Rogers Clark, then in command 
of the department, was promptly notified of the 
visit of the strangers, and sent two of his aids to 
escort them to the barracks, where they could be 
comfortably lodged and fed. It is a singular his- 
torical fact that General Clark, in command at St. 
Louis in 1 83 1 and 1832, was ''the great red-head 
chief," as the Indians called him, who, with Cap- 
tain Lewis, made the exploration of the Oregon 
country in 1804-1806, an exploration which for 
romance and completeness of its success has never 
been equaled in American history. General Clark 
in that expedition received marked kindness and 
aid from the Nez Perces and the Flathead Indians. 
He knew them in their homes, in eastern Oregon, and 
had a keen remembrance of their savage hospitality 
to him in his time of need. A band of the Flatheads 
also owned a large territory south of the Columbia 
and east from Astoria, and not far from the winter 
camp of the explorers. The author found them 



24 Whitman's Ride 

there, and spent a day with them in one of their 
villages in 1850. 

General Clark had been in many hard Indian 
fights, and was of a family of famous Indian 
fighters, but he learned in that far western expe- 
dition to respect the hospitality, the courage, the 
heroism, and manliness of the Indian. He resolved 
to leave nothing undone to express his gratitude 
to his old Oregon friends, and he charged his young 
men to see to it personally that they had every 
comfort. He knew Indian character and stoicism, 
and when his aids told him they ''could make 
nothing out of the Indians, or learn what they 
wanted," he repHed, ''Don't hurry them, give them 
time, and they will make known their mission to 
this far-away place. ' ' General Clark was an ear- 
nest and devoted Catholic, and he ordered that the 
Indians be taken to all the services in the cathe- 
dral, and also to all places of amusement likely to 
entertain them. Week after week passed, and the 
Indian stoicism continued; but finally in an audi- 
ence with the General they told him all. The 
Indians all spoke "the Chinook," a pleasing word 
language invented by the Hudson Bay Company, 
and was to all the Indian tribes, from Hudson's Bay 
to the Columbia, what the classic languages are to 
the learned world. It was their trading language. 

The General had a good interpreter, and knew 



Flathead Indian Chiefs at St. Louis 25 

something of the Chinook himself, so that he soon 
fully understood the meaning of their long journey, 
and wondered at it. They said, *'Our people have 
heard of the white man's book of heaven, and 
we have been sent the long journey over mountains 
and wide rivers, and among strange people, to find 
it and carry it back with us. ' ' 

In that far-away period there were few news- 
papers in the West, to print the news, and General 
Clark, with his many duties and cares, left no writ- 
ten account of these interviews or of his advice to 
the Indians, but we can rest assured that, as a sol- 
dier, a friend, and Christian gentleman, it was the 
most kindly he could give. 

During the winter, as it was thought at the time, 
either from exposure in the long journey, or from 
the rich food to which they were not accustomed, 
two of the old chiefs died, and were given honored 
soldier burials. The first to die was the memo- 
rable "Black Eagle," recalled to-day by the Nez 
Perces as ''Speaking Eagle." He was an aged 
man, greatly loved by his people. The records of 
the old St. Louis Cathedral have the account of 
Black Eagle's death and burial. The second 
death followed soon after. It proved latterly 
that this was the beginning of that terrible 
scourge, Asiatic cholera, which spread, in 1832, 
over a wide section. Mrs. Clark, who kindly 



26 Whitman's Ride 



ministered to the Indians with her own hands, was 
''stricken with a malady that no physician could 
master, and died." As the spring approached, 
the two surviving chiefs began preparation 
to return to their distant homes, and General 
Clark left nothing undone to outfit them with 
every comfort for the journey. The steamer 
Yellowstone was just then loading for her first trip 
up the Missouri River, and he engaged berths for 
the two chiefs — the boat was to run as far up the 
river as it could go with safety — and would save 
the Indians many long, weary marches. 

In addition to their necessary outfit, they had 
received numerous presents for themselves and 
friends at home, they greatly prized, to which 
Chief Min refers in his banquet speech, in the 
words, ''You make my feet heavy with gifts." 
The night before their departure General Clark 
gave them a banquet, to which all his officers and 
many leading citizens were invited. Upon that 
occasion Chief H. C. O. Hcotes Min (no horns on 
his head), at the request of the General, made 
a speech in the Chinook language. 

The Speech 

"I came to you over the trail of many moons, from the 
setting sun. You were the friends of my fathers, who have 
all gone the long way. I came with an eye partly open for my 
people who sit in darkness. I go back with both eyes closed. 



Flathead Indian Chiefs at St. Louis 27 

How can I go back blind to my blind people? I made my way 
to you with strong arms through many enemies and strange 
lands that I might carry back much to them. I go back with 
both arms broken and empty! Two fathers came with us; 
they were the braves of many v/inters and wars. We leave 
them asleep here by your great water and wigwams. They 
were tired in many moons, and their moccasins wore out. 

"My people sent me to get the White Man's Book of 
Heaven. You took me to where you allow your women to 
dance, as we do not ours; and the book was not there! You 
took me to where they worship the Great Spirit with candles, 
and the Book was not there! You showed me images of the 
Great Spirit and pictures of the Good Land beyond, but the 
Book was not among them to tell me the way. I am going 
back the long trail to my people in the dark land. You make 
my feet heavy with gifts, and my moccasins will grow old in 
carrying them, and yet the Book is not among them! When 
I tell my poor blind people, after one more snow, in the big 
Council, that I did not bring'the Book, no word will be spoken 
by our old men or by our young braves. One by one they will 
rise up and go out in silence. My people will die in darkness, 
and they will go on a long path to other hunting-grounds. No 
white man will go with them, and no White Man's Book to 
make the way plain. I have no more words." 

Translated into English, doubtless the charm of 
the speech has been marred, and loses much of its 
terse and simple beauty. Those who doubt and 
sneer about a savage making such a speech do not 
know Indians. I have listened to Indian orators, 
and been charmed by their ease, eloquence, and 
wonderfully electrifying power, amid rugged sur- 
roundings. Indians have their orators and story- 
tellers, and are as proud of them as ever cultivated 



28 Whitman's Ride 



people are of their Beechers, PhilHpses, Douglases, 
and Depews; and their animal stories far excel 
those of ''Uncle Remus." In long evenings un- 
der the summer skies, or winters by the wigwam 
fire, they gather, and listen spellbound to the 
weird stories — wild, visionary, and superstitious — of 
the present life, and of the happy hunting-ground 
to which all are urged to aspire. 

The Indian is a spiritualist, not an idolater. 
The medicine man is the great man of the 
tribe. When an Indian feels the call of the Spirit 
to become a medicine man, he goes off alone to 
the forest or to the mountains, or to some noted 
healing spring, fasts, prays, and seeks there for 
his power, through all the agencies of nature that 
surround him. Like Joan of Arc, he ''hears 
voices" in the trees and from the rocks, the winds, 
the waters, the animals, and the birds. When he 
returns to his tribe and convinces the braves that 
he has received the Spirit, from that day he is 
entirely trusted. The greatest chief must consult 
him concerning every movement; whether it be 
the distant chase, change of location, or of war. 
He is Sir Oracle. 

The writer does not speak at random or by hear- 
say of Indian life. He saw and studied something 
of it, more than half a century ago, before civiliza- 
tion had wrought the changes now seen. Indians 



Flathead Indian Chiefs at St. Louis 29 

are profound believers in the immortality of the 
soul. Some suspend their dead in the leafy tree- 
tops, that they may the more easily ascend to ''the 
happy hunting-grounds." The custom of many is 
to kill the favorite horse and bury it with all ac- 
coutrements and implements of war, as well as 
their finest garments, believing the spirit will need 
them and receive greater honor. The leading 
thought of the Indian seems to be that all material 
things have a spirit that is immortal. The Indian 
burying-grounds are sacred spots and seldom if 
ever are desecrated in savage life, even by their 
worst enemies. Some of the beautiful little islands 
in the rivers of the Far West have thus been used, 
as the many ruins testify. It has long been noted 
that Indians in war will risk their own lives to 
carry off and bury their dead and prevent mutila- 
tion of bodies. 

Is the Story of the Flathead Chiefs oj i8ji-j2 
Authentic? 

So strange and so without precedent in savage 
life was the mission of the Indians to St. Louis, 
that many have doubted the truthfulness of the 
report, and have called it ''visionary." Fortu- 
nately the reader need not be in doubt in regard 
to the entire truthfulness of the event as reported. 
The Christian people of that time believed and 



30 Whitman's Ride 

acted upon it in a way to convince every honest 
mind of their earnestness. It may be said the 
incident made a profound impression in the reh- 
gious world, and the history we are to recite of the 
after-results mark it as one of the providential 
events guiding the nation by unseen hands to its ; 
destiny. 

Had such a notable event occurred in modern 
days, it would have entered at once into current 
literature. That it did not at the time is no dis- 
paragement of its truthfulness. There is one 
strong chain of evidence regarding the mission of 
the Nez Perces chiefs, not easily broken; that is, 
the written evidence of George Catlin. Aboard the 
steamer Yellowstone, upon which General Clark 
sent his savage friends, there happened to be a 
celebrated artist, George Catlin, then on one of his 
visits to the West to paint Indian pictures and 
study Indian Hfe. These Nez Perces chiefs at 
once attracted him, and they became intimate 
friends — during the long journey he made pictures 
of them. Indians are not great talkers, and he did 
not learn much from them as to the object of their 
long journey. From others afterward he heard of 
their strange mission to St. Louis, and believing 
he had secured two historic pictures, he first 
wrote General Clark, and afterward met him, and 
was assured by him that such was the mission of 



Flathead Indian Chiefs at St. Louis 31 

the four Flathead chiefs. Catlin, in his Smith- 
sonian report for eight years, in 1885, says: 

"These two men, when I painted them, were in beautiful 
Sioux dresses, which had been presented them in a talk with the 
Sioux, who treated them very kindly, while passing through the 
Sioux country. These two were part of a delegation that came 
across the Rocky Mountains to St. Louis a few years ago to 
inquire for the truth of a representation which they said some 
white man had made among them, that the white man's religion 
was better than theirs, and that they would all be lost if they 
did not embrace it. Two of the old and venerable men of the 
party died in St. Louis, and I traveled two thousand miles, 
companions with those two fellows, toward their own country, 
and became much pleased with their manners and dispositions. 
When I first heard the report of the object of their mission, I 
could scarcely believe it, but upon conversing with General 
Clark, on a future occasion, I was fully convinced of the fact." 

The two pictures are now numbered 207 and 
208 in the Smithsonian Institution, and highly 
prized. H. H. Hcotes Min (no horns on his 
head), who made the notable banquet speech, died 
near the Yellowstone River on the journey home, 
and but one, the youngest of the four, Hee-Ah- 
K. S. Te Kin (the rabbit skin leggins), lived to 
reach his tribe beyond the Rockies. As was cus- 
tomary with the Indians, a large band was sent 
along the trail far away to the Rocky Mountains to 
meet the expected delegation of chiefs with "the 
book of heaven." Their legends say, ''Rabbit 
Skin Leggins shouted when far off, 'A man will 
be sent with the book. ' ' ' The world of to-day 



32 Whitman's Ride 

may well give thanks', that both Christian men and 
women were "sent with the Book" at that earnest 
and honest appeal. Christianity is broad, and its 
command is to ''preach the Gospel to every crea- 
ture." The Nez Perces Indians, who, in blind 
faith, sent for teachers, were blessed in the act 
above all Indian tribes in the land, and the blessing 
has followed them from that day to this. In 
another connection in a later chapter will be read 
facts in proof of their condition, and showing the 
effect of the Gospel verses upon Indians. Indian 
men, like the whites, are made up of good and bad. 
The missionaries were bright, shrewd men and 
women, and they easily saw that so fair a land 
could not much longer be held by savages in its 
unfruitful condition. They bent themselves to the 
heavy tasks laid upon them, to do the best they 
could for their savage wards. The true story for 
our pages, however, does not take us into any large 
study of missionary work, but mainly along the 
lines of Christian patriotism. 

The author in answer to any critics of the mis- 
sionaries to the Indians will relate a simple incident 
in his own experience, which dates fourteen years 
after their advent in Oregon. It shows how the 
seeds of Christianity they planted made of savages 
unselfish and humane men. It was on a Saturday, 
after days of weary traveling, we came to a little val- 



Flathead Indian Chiefs at St. Louis ^3 

ley where we at once resolved to rest for a couple of 
days. It was such a little paradise that we named 
it ''The Valley of Blessing." On Sunday morn- 
ing, with a single companion, the writer wandered 
for miles up the narrow valley, enjoying its luxuri- 
ous surroundings. To the right was a mountain 
whose rugged sides were covered with dwarf firs 
and cedars; while rocks were piled on rocks look- 
ing like ancient castles in ruins. Flowering vines 
climbed to the tops of the trees, and their fragrance 
filled the air. A clear stream divided the 
valley where flocked myriads of birds from the 
mountain, as they drank and bathed, whistled 
cheerily to their fellows in the mountain home. As 
we were admiring all this wilderness of beauty, on 
rising a little eminence, we came suddenly in view 
of four Indians, digging at a short distance away. 
We immediately dropped behind the hill, but not 
before we had been observed by the Indians. We 
were watchful and well armed, but the old Indian 
gave us a peace signal, and we approached the spot. 
The company was made up of an aged Indian, 
eighty or more, his grandson, and two half-breeds. 
They were digging a grave and were silent as we 
stood until its completion. The old Indian then 
invited us to look at the corpse under the shade of 
a near-by tree. We were astonished to find it the 
emaciated body of a white man. It was wrapped 



34 Whitman's Ride 

in a well-tanned buffalo skin, white and clean. 
The four Indians took the body and placed it in the 
grave, and the old man, removing his cap, to our 
astonishment, said, ''Now, maybe some white man 
who knows religion will make a little prayer over 
the poor fellow!" The half-breeds, perhaps not 
understanding the English the old chief spoke, 
began pushing in the sand with their moccasined 
feet. Thus the Argonaut of 1850 was laid to his 
final rest, with only the wild birds to sing his 
requiem. The old Indian had brought along a 
smooth board to place at the head of the grave, 
and at his request, 1 wrote: 

John Wilson, St. Louis, Mo., 1850. 
Left by his company and nursed by Hoo Goo Chee. 

He told us Wilson had traveled as long as he 
was able, and begged his companions to leave him 
there alone to die. He told the chief he had 
no complaint to make of his fellows. We mention 
the incident to show that the beautiful trait of 
unselfishness has a place even among Indians. 
The old chief could easily have buried the body 
near his mountain home without bearing it the long 
distance to be near the road, where the grave could 
be seen by his friends. He might have used an old 
blanket instead of the costly dressed robe the 
Indian prized so highly. Here we found a savage 
who, like the Flatheads, had heard of ''the white 



Flathead Indian Chiefs at St. Louis ^^ 

man's book of heaven," had practically caught 
its unselfishness and humanity, and its spirit of love, y 

It is well to remember that the Indian has no 
literature, and has ever been dependent upon his 
enemies to write his history and his achievements. 
They have chosen to write only of his savagery. 
This is not fair treatment by the United States 
government, incited by justice, and the wholesome 
Christian sentiments of the land has during the 
past thirty years done much to correct all abuses 
of its savage wards. 



CHAPTER III 



The Effect oj the Banquet Speech. How it Stirred 
Christian People. The American Board Acts. 
Drs. Parker and Whitman Go on a Voyage oj 
Discovery. His I vidian Boys. His Marriage 
and Journey through Savage Lands to Oregon. 

THE Indian oration at the St. Louis banquet 
was translated by a young man present, 
William Walker, who was an Indian chief, 
but a white man, and it was first published some 
months later in ''The Christian Advocate" in New 
York, with a ringing editorial from its editor, Rev. 
Dr. Fiske, headed, "Who will Carry the Book of 
Life to the Indians of Oregon?" 

The effect was electrical among religious people 
in the East. The Methodist Foreign Missionary 
Society were prompt to act, and the very next year 
sent two able-bodied, earnest Christian ministers, 
Jason and Daniel Lee, with one layman to aid 
them. They reached their field by the long, 
round-about waterway, via London and the Ha- 
waiian Islands. For many years they did effective 
work, far up on the Willamette River. The Ameri- 
can Board, then under the control of Congregational 

36 



The Effect of the Banquet Speech 37 

and Presbyterian churches, was more cautious. It 
was an unheard-of proposition to come from savage 
Hfe so far away from civiHzation, and they wanted 
time to investigate. The Rev. Dr. Samuel Parker 
of Utica, New York, became restive under the 
delay, believing fully in the call of the Indians, and 
resolved to join some trading company to the Far 
West and go to Oregon. In 1834 he reached the 
border upon the Missouri, but the fur-traders had 
departed. He returned home and renewed his 
efforts to arouse the American Board to action. 
He found Marcus Whitman, M. D., as much of 
an enthusiast in the work as he, and the Board 
resolved to send the two men upon a voyage of dis- 
covery in 1835, and to have them return and report 
upon the possibility of establishing missions in that 
well-nigh unknown land. So in 1835, the minister 
and the young physician were on the western border 
in time to join a company of American fur-traders, 
bound for Green River, in what is now northern 
Utah. Upon reaching this point they met some 
two thousand Indians, representing various tribes 
Jiving within five to seven hundred miles. There 
were large delegations of Oregon Indians to trade 
their furs for articles needed. When the object 
of the missionaries was explained to the Indians, 
they received the nev/s with such enthusiasm as to 
dispel every doubt from the minds of the mission- 



38 Whitman's Ride 

aries of the wisdom of their course and the Indians' 
sincerity in asking for Christian teachers. Upon 
consultation they agreed that it was wise to make 
no delay in reporting to the American Board. 
While Dr. Parker was to continue his journey to 
Oregon with the Indians, Dr. Whitman was to 
return with the convoy, make the report, and 
return the next year with reinforcements to begin 
mission work. The Indians showed such confi- 
dence in Dr. Whitman's promise to come to them 
after one more snow, that they selected two of their 
brightest, most intelligent, and muscular boys 
about eighteen years to accompany him, and help 
him on his way the coming year. Dr. Parker, 
with his Indian guides, reached Oregon, over which 
country he traveled extensively. He organized no 
mission, but studied the situation fully, so as to be 
able to make a wise report for the future guidance 
of the American Board. 

Finding a ship sailing next year for the Hawaiian 
Islands he did not wait for Whitman and his com- 
pany. Dr. Parker was a scholarly man and a keen 
observer, and upon his return wrote a book of great 
value. It was a true description of Indian life and 
conditions, the wealth of forest and the prospective 
finds of coal and minerals in the hills and moun- 
tains, the magnificence of rivers, the healthfulness 
and mildness of the climate. The book passed 



The Effect of the Banquet Speech 39 

through six editions, and was interesting reading, 
but it was of a far-away land, and induced Httle or 
no immigration at that time. 

Dr. Whitman and his two Indian boys joined 
the fur company for escort on its return trip. 
While on the plains a scourge of cholera broke 
out, and the Doctor's skill and his untiring work to 
save the lives of the men, won all their hearts, and 
they united in giving him a cordial invitation to join 
them in the spring, upon their annual visit to Green 
River. This was gladly accepted, as such an 
escort was a necessity in that day. The Doctor 
and his two Indian aids reached Rushville, New 
York, late on a Saturday night in November, 1835. 
His return was unexpected, and his first appear- 
ance to his friends was when he marched up the 
aisle of the church with his Indian boys, as they 
sang the opening hymn. His good old mother 
was so astonished that she spoke right out in meet- 
ing, "If there ain't Mark Whitman!" It is easy 
to conceive that such an incident called out a 
wide interest and inquiry, which was just what the 
Doctor desired, enthused as he was himself in the 
importance of the work before him. The Doctor 
had taken great pains all summer to instruct his 
Indian boys in English, and they proved apt 
pupils. He put them at once in school, where they 
made rapid progress, and were general favorites. 



40 Whitman's Ride 

Never was the enthusiastic young Doctor more 
active than in the fall and winter months in making 
his preparations. The American Board had re- 
solved to establish a mission in Oregon, and they 
notified him that they preferred to send married 
men into the missionary field. This was unex- 
pected but welcome news to Whitman, and was in 
accordance with the last advice from Dr. Parker: 
"Bring with you a good wife." He had already 
in his own mind made his selection in the person 
of Miss Narcissa Prentice, a daughter of Judge 
Prentice, of Angelica, New York, but owing to 
the privations and perils of the journey, and the 
isolated life among savages, he had hesitated to ask 
her to make such sacrifice. One can easily ima- 
gine his happiness, when upon fully explaining all, 
he found her with a courage equal to his own, and 
an abounding enthusiasm for the prospective 
work. After a time the clear-headed men of the 
Board, doubtless guided by their clearer-headed 
wives, raised a point, and said, upon such an expe- 
dition, so full of care and responsibility and danger, 
it would not do to send a woman unless accom- 
panied by another of her sex. Here was a new 
dilemma. Time was passing, and candidates for 
such perils were not plentiful. The day of the 
wedding was postponed, and Whitman endeavored 
to meet the requirements. He finally heard of 



The Effect of the Banquet Speech 41 

Dr. Spalding and his newly wedded wife, who 
were en route to the Osage Indian Mission. He 
learned their proposed route and set out to find 
them. Whether through chance or Providence, he 
succeeded. It was a cold day and a driving snow, 
when in his sleigh he sighted them ahead, after a 
long chase. When in hallooing distance he 
shouted, ''Ship ahoy, you are wanted for Oregon!" 
Hearing the cheery, pleasant voice, they halted. 
Whitman driving his sleigh by the side of theirs, 
and he at once bounded into the subject of which 
he was full. Dr. Spalding proposed that they go 
to the hotel in the town just ahead, where they 
could talk the matter over without freezing. By a 
glowing fire Dr. Whitman retold the story of the 
Flatheads, about whom they had read; of his journey 
to the Far West to verify the facts, and the result, 
and of the two Indian boys ready to escort them to 
Oregon, where they would meet with an enthusi- 
astic reception such as he and Dr. Parker had 
received on Green River. Whitman was often 
called ''The Silent Man," but when aroused and 
enthused, he was an eloquent pleader. And with 
all at stake, as in this instance, he was doubtless at 
his best. They listened with profound attention. 
Mrs. Spalding was an educated woman, of great 
decision of character, an earnest "Christian," 
and a firm believer in a power higher than herself 



42 Whitman's Ride 

ready to guide her in Hfe's duties. They were 
silent for a moment, when she arose and said, *'I 
desire a few moments to myself for prayer, ' ' and 
retired to her room. The two men sat by the fire 
canvassing all the dangers of the expedition and 
the hopefulness of the outlook. Dr. Spalding 
afterward wrote, in speaking of the meeting, "I do 
not think she was gone from us more than ten 
minutes before she returned, her face all aglow 
with happiness and enthusiasm, and said, 'Yes, 
we will go to Oregon!' " He continues, ''I gently 
expostulated, 'My dear, we must consider your 
health in such a hazardous undertaking.' She 
replied, in the words, 'Go ye into all the world 
and preach the Gospel to every creature, there is 
no exception made for ill health.' "And no 
words of mine could alter her determination." 
Mrs. Spalding had been a semi-invalid for months, 
but her faith and Christian courage were strong. 
It was her prompt decision which decided the fate 
of the Oregon mission, of the four notable char- 
acters, and we may add, the fate of questions so 
great and grave to the nation, as to be unfathom- 
able by man's wisdom. 

The wedding day was again fixed. In this 
case there was more than usual interest in the 
bride, for her friends all knew of her destination. 



The Effect of the Banquet Speech 43 

The late Mrs. H. P. Jackson, of Oberlin, Ohio, 

sister of the bride, has told me in letters, of the 

events of the pleasant occasion. The two Indian 

boys, dressed in their best, were guests of honor. 

Dr. Whitman introduced them to his wife, and 

says Mrs. Jackson, ''When he told them she would 

go with them to their far-away home in Oregon, 

and teach them, they did not try to conceal their 

delight." 

Narcissa Prentice was the eldest daughter of 

Judge Prentice, an influential, earnest Christian 

man, then residing in Angelica, New York. The 

daughter was well educated, loved for her womanly 

qualities and famed in all the country around for 

the sweetness of her voice. She was the leader of 

the church choir of the village, and the people 

crowded the building the evening before their 

departure to bid the little party a good by and give 

them a blessing. After a good social time, the 

minister, the Rev. Dr. Hull, called the meeting to 

order, and gave out the old familiar hymn: 

"Yes, my native land, I love thee, 
All thy scenes I love them well; 
Friends, connections, happy country. 
Can I bid you all farewell?" Etc. 

The late Martha J. Lamb, editor of the ''Mag- 
azine of American History, ' ' who wrote the report 
of the farewell gathering, says: 



44 Whitman's Ride 

"The great audience joined in singing the opening stanzas, 
but soon they began to drop out by ones and scores, and sobs 
were heard all over the audience. The last stanza was sung 
by one voice alone in a clear, sweet soprano, and not a faulty 
note; it was the voice of Narcissa Whitman." 

It was the last time her old friends heard the 
sweet voice, for daylight found them braving the 
winter storm on their way to Oregon. 

The late Eli G. Coe, of Illinois, then a young 
man, drove them in his sleigh to the mountains, 
en route to Pittsburg, where they were to take boat 
for St. Louis. He has given me a delightful 
sketch of the journey, upon which he marks 
Whitman ''The Silent Man, ever thoughtful of all 
his guests," and Mrs. Whitman, "The lovely little 
woman who was the life of the company, who often 
dispelled gloom, and made all forget the winter 
cold, by a song of cheer. ' ' 

Their route was from Pittsburg down the Ohio 
River to the Mississippi up to St. Louis, thence 
up the Missouri River to near where Fort Leaven- 
worth now stands. The journey had no mishaps 
until they reached ''The Big Muddy," as the Mis- 
souri has long been called. Those who navigated 
it half and three-quarters of a century ago, will 
never forget the journey. It was sand bars on 
sand bars, forever shifting with each freshet, and 
snags galore! The engineer stood constantly at 
his lever, to answer the bell, a leadsman stood 



The Effect of the Banquet Speech 45 

in the bow casting a lead and calling in loud, sing- 
song the depth of water, until suddenly, like an 
electric shock, came the sharp, ''five feet scant," 
and the bell rang, and the wheels reversed with a 
suddenness that aroused every one, until he got 
used to it. They were hung on snags, ''hard 
aground" on sand bars, and as a consequence were 
four or five days behind the time at Leavenworth. 

The reader will recollect that the fur-traders had 
given Dr. Whitman a cordial invitation to join 
them in the spring, and he was impatient but help- 
less in the delay. To the great discomfiture of the 
missionaries upon reaching the landing, they learned 
that the fur company had left four days before. 
What added to Whitman's trouble was, that at St. 
Louis he had been told he could get all the provis- 
ions he lacked at the fort, and upon inquiry, found 
nearly everything sold, and that he would have to 
start in poorly equipped with provisions, without 
a hope of being able to add to his stock, except by 
chance and courtesy of the traders. 

This was the first great test of the courage of 
Dr. Whitman. Dr. Spalding was outspoken, "We 
must turn back and never think of such madness 
as to brave a journey among savages without an 
escort." Whitman said Httle, but rapidly made 
his preparation, simply declaring, "We will go on. " 
Mrs. Spalding nobly seconded Whitman, and said, 



46 Whitman's Ride 

''I have started for Oregon, and to Oregon I will 
go or leave my body upon the plains." Mrs. 
Whitman was alike cheerful. So soon as harness 
could be adjusted, the loads packed, and the cattle 
rounded up, the man of courage gave the order, 
and the little train began to move through the deep 
mud of the Missouri River bottoms. We learned 
after that the fur company waited one day over the 
stipulated time. But they had in some way learned 
at St. Louis that the Doctor was going to bring 
with him some American women for the journey, 
something never heard of before, and as they were 
expecting to have to fight their way at times, they 
did not care for such encumbrances, anxious 
as they were to have the services of the good 
Doctor. Thus it was a gloomy start for the brave 
little company. Dr. Whitman had made ample 
preparation for the comfort of the women in a spring- 
wagon, "the brides' wagon," fitted up with various 
little comforts and a protection in every storm. 
But it is doubtful whether two cultivated American 
brides before, or since, ever made so memorable a 
wedding journey. The party consisted of the two 
brides and their husbands, Dr. W. H. Gray, two 
teamsters, and the two Indian boys. We may add 
that somewhere in the Sioux country the boys 
picked up three other Nez Perces friends; one of 
them, Samuel, was added permanently to the com- 



The Effect of the Banquet Speech 47 

pany. Mrs. Whitman writes, ''When the boys 
get together they make a great chattering." 

They were in an Indian country from the first 
day's start, and met great numbers of savages, out on 
their hunts, many moving to new camps, and some 
on the war-path. At no time were the mission- 
aries molested, but on the contrary, were treated 
with great courtesy, and as Mrs. Whitman wrote, 
''They seemed greatly surprised to see white 
women in the party. " The Indian boys were soon 
in their element, and of inestimable value; they 
could swim the rivers like ducks, and took all the 
care of the loose stock, and were wise in the ways 
of plains' life. They could explain to any suspi- 
cious Indians the coming of "the great medicine 
men" they were taking to their people, and in a 
hundred ways were helpers to the little com- 
pany. Mrs. Whitman, from the outset, rode on 
horseback with her husband, only occasionally rest- 
ing in the wagon, and for company to Mrs. Spalding, 
who was yet an invalid. 

We make no pretense of writing a continued 
narrative of the journey, but just enough to catch 
its spirit. We have seen in it a dreary and dis- 
couraged start, and none but a hero with heroines 
to encourage him would have entered upon it. 
They had now been a whole month on the way 
making forced marches, the trail of the fur-traders 



48 Whitman's Ride 

getting fresher every day, until finally hearing 
they were in camp on Loupe Fork, the wagons 
pushed on and joined them. The Doctor and Mrs. 
Whitman were behind helping to hurry forward the 
loose stock. Finally, late at night, the Indian boys 
begged the Doctor and his wife to ride on to camp 
and leave them, to drive the stock in at daylight. 
But they refused to leave them. Picketing their 
horses out to graze, then with their saddles for 
pillows, they lay upon the warm ground looking up 
at the stars and slept. At daylight they rode into 
camp and were courteously received and praised as 
"a plucky set." 

The two American women, who had so alarmed 
the old plainsmen as a burden and an en- 
cumbrance, by their tact and kindness soon 
won them as friends, and nothing was left undone 
that the rough old fellows could do for their com- 
fort. They had succeeded so admirably in passing 
safely for a month alone through the Indian coun- 
try, that they began to have confidence in them- 
selves. But they learned that they had not yet 
reached the point of real danger, and were glad to 
be protected by such a stalwart troop. The 
Indians had a great respect for these pioneer trad- 
ers, who were veterans of the plains and splendidly 
armed. The greatest anxiety was for the safety 
of their stock at night, when picketed out to graze. 



The Effect of the Banquet Speech 49 

The Indians especially coveted the oxen and cows, 
which required careful guarding to prevent stam- 
peding. Cattle when frightened at night lose all 
sense, breaking away and running as long as they 
. can stand, becoming easy prey for the savages, 
while horses and mules almost invariably break 
for the tents and wagons, and the company of 
men. 

Camp at night is always made by driving the 
wagons in a circle, with tents pitched inside. 
The wagons make a protection from an enemy, and 
all their contents are in easy reach. 

The year 1836 was a peaceable year among the 
Indians, and the buffalo and other game was so 
plentiful as to make small temptation for Indian 
depredation upon the white man's stock during this 
portion of the journey, but we may add they cast 
longing eyes at all times upon every good horse the 
white man rode. 

In the Buffalo Country 
The company had now reached the buffalo coun- 
try, and soon began to see great herds containing 
thousands, and even tens of thousands. Every 
spring the buffalo journeyed northward to the 
valleys and plains to feed on the rich grasses. 
It is a feast occasion, one of the greatest the Indian 
enjoys. Tribes travel four and five hundred miles 



50 Whitman's Ride 

from their homes to meet the buffalo, and lay in a 
supply of dried meat, calf skins, and robes, and 
never forgetting to feast for a month while laying 
up winter stores. It is a novel and exhilarating 
sight to view the annual Indian migration to meet 
these noble wild cattle of the plains — the whole 
tribe, old and young, dogs and loose horses, with 
all their movable worldly goods brought with 
them packed on poles drawn by ponies. They 
settle down in the little valleys near springs, or 
along running waters, and arrange for work in 
advance with as much system as the farmer in 
the spring plows and sows. The buffalo country 
has generally, by mutual consent, been regarded as 
"peace grounds," but the desire for revenge has 
many times made it the scene of bloody contests and 
massacres. Hunting buffalo in those days, either 
by the Indians or white men, was not sport, but 
butchery. They were in such immense herds that, 
when running from their enemies, those in the rear 
could not get out of the way, and were an easy 
prey to any kind of weapon of death. The buffalo 
•bull is the most gallant and noble among animals. 
On the march he leads, brings up the rear, and 
marches on the flanks, while all the cows and calves 
are kept in the center of the herd and protected 
from the bands of wolves, mountain-lions, and bears 
which linger around ready to devour the stray- 
ing members of the herd. By a wonderful provis- 



The Effect of the Banquet Speech 5 1 

ion of nature, the buffalo calves are practically all 
of the same age, so that a herd in the long sum- 
mer outing is not much detained upon its way, for 
the little one trots gayly beside its mother in a few 
hours. But while the little fellows are thus com- 
paratively helpless, those who have witnessed the 
scene, bear testimony to the courage of the great, 
strong-necked, sharp-horned bulls who will attack 
a grizzly or a whole pack of wolves, or a mountain- 
lion regardless of his own danger. At such times 
he is even at night a sleepless, faithful picket ever 
on duty. He walks backward and forward along 
his picketed line like a trained soldier, and when 
the ground is wet, he treads a deep path in the 
sod, and the picket Hne of a sleeping herd can 
easily be traced long afterward, and often is 
referred to as ' ' Indian trails. ' ' One would sup- 
pose that such nobility would command respect. 
But it never did. Even such explorers and writers 
as Parkman and his men never seem to have en- 
joyed the day unless, in addition to the calves they 
killed for food, they were able to tell of the slaughter 
of many "savage old bulls." At the time of 
which I write buffalo were seen by the million. 
Fourteen years later, when the writer visited the 
same region, they could be seen in single herds 
covering a thousand acres. When frightened and 
running, they were turned from their course with 
the greatest difficulty. 



52 Whitman's Ride 

A train on the trail they were crossing was only 
safe in halting and allowing it to pass. The pres- 
sure from the rear was so great that the front could 
not halt. Some of the old plainsmen told of ''a 
tenderfoot's" experience, who was going to have 
some ''rare sport, and his pick of an entire bunch. '* 
He observed a large herd quietly grazing and saw 
by making a detour, up a dry ravine, where he 
would be hidden from view, he could get imme- 
diately in their front. He succeeded, and tying 
his mule behind him, concealed himself in the edge 
of some bushes upon the bank of the creek. He 
did not have long to wait, something in the rear 
frightened the herd and it began to come directly 
toward him. As soon as in reach, he began to 
fire and kill. It would break the ranks for an 
instant only, and he at once saw death impending, 
as there was not a tree large enough to climb. He 
had shot until his gun was hot, but all in vain. 
Just then his old mule tied in the bushes opened 
up his musical "honk, honk," such as only a 
thoroughly frightened mule can utter, and the whole 
herd opened right and left, and the man was saved. 

Some have expressed a wonder that these noble 
animals, in such myriads, should so soon have dis- 
appeared. It is easily seen, in the fact of the im- 
proved firearms used by the Indians, and that 
they killed, for food, skins for clothing, and 



The Effect of the Banquet Speech 53 

robes for the market, only the cows and calves. 
They selected only the choice cuts of the meat, 
and left the great bodies for the wolves and other 
varments. They could tan only the skins of cows 
and calves for clothing and for tepee covers. It 
was a sickening sight to pass over the place of 
slaughter, and thus see hundreds of bodies, with 
only tongues and choice cuts and skins taken. 
American hunters were equally sacrificial. Half a 
century later the writer rode over the same land 
and saw Indians, all across the region, with carts 
and pack ponies gathering up bones of the 
buffalo. Passing stations along the Great North- 
ern and Northern Pacific railroads, one passes 
ricks of bones half a mile long on each side, and as 
high as the tops of the cars, waiting for shipment 
East as fertilizers, and horn handles for knives and 
other uses in the arts. Only two living wild herds 
of buffalo are now reported, one small one in 
Texas, and one carefully protected by the govern- 
ment in Yellowstone Park. It would have been 
wise and humane had they been protected sooner 
by the strong arm of the law. 

But it was the great good fortune to our 
missionaries to meet the buffalo herds. They 
started out poorly provided, and would soon 
have been in distress, for they had added three 
Nez Perces Indian boys to their company, and the 



54 Whitman's Ride 

pure air and exercise upon the plains provokes 
great appetites. It was equally good for the fur- 
traders, who had calculated upon the event. So 
the whole train stopped and began to kill and 
"jerk" meat. The Indian boys were in their ele- 
ment and veterans in the business, and laid in 
bountiful supplies. While it is fresh and juicy few 
animals furnish more nutritious food. A buffalo 
porterhouse steak, cooked over coals at the end 
of a forked stick, when the thermometer of appe- 
tite is up to "one hundred degrees in the shade," 
is a royal feast to be remembered. If however 
kept up long enough, the good old-fashioned pig 
with lean and fat strips on his ribs, is quite a relief. 
But the dried meat was the staple food of the little 
company from that time on. Mrs. Whitman cheer- 
fully and jokingly writes in her diary, "We have 
dried buffalo meat and tea for breakfast, and tea 
and jerked buffalo for supper, but the Doctor has 
a different way of cooking each piece to give vari- 
ety to the entertainment." 

Mrs. Whitman kept carefully a daily diary of 
events of travel, which was luckily preserved, and 
passed into the hands of her sister, Mrs. Jackson, of 
Oberlin, Ohio, which I have been permitted to read 
and from which have copious selections in my larger 
work, "How Marcus Whitman Saved Oregon," 
after which it was passed on to the Whitman College 



The Effect of the Banquet Speech 55 

Library, where it is preserved as a precious treas- 
ure. The notable feature of this diary is its self- 
sacrificing spirit and good cheer. The scorching 
sun, the clouds of alkaline dust that stung the eyes 
and throat, the impure water they were compelled 
to use, the myriads of mosquitoes and buffalo 
gnats, all of which the author so well remembers 
as the dreariest things encountered in a long life, 
did not daunt the spirit of this delicate little woman. 
Not a word of complaint can be found in that daily 
diary, which was never written for the public eye, 
or for effect. The nearest to it was once, after 
being without flour or bread for weeks, she writes, 
"O for a few crusts of mother's bread; girls, 
don't waste the bread in the old home!" Men and 
women are all human, and I have no desire to pic- 
ture my characters as perfect beings. They 
doubtless had their faults, but none who have 
not experienced some of the difficulties of that 
pioneer band, who, tired and worn with travel, 
sought sleep while hungry (after shaking out their 
blankets to be sure no snakes were within them), can 
censure. I repeat, it takes such experience to fully 
appreciate the heroism and unselfishness of such 
consecrated lives. 

The old pioneers were wise geographers and 
surveyors. There were two things necessary for 
life upon the plains, viz., water and grass. They 



^6 Whitman's Ride 

studied their maps and sav/ the Platte, North and 
South Forks, reaching northward and westward. 
So they made their trails along the banks, cutting 
off bends, avoiding impossible sloughs and hills, 
but keeping an eye upon the river in the distance, 
and ever working nearer to it when a detour had 
been made. The two Plattes thus furnish supplies 
for from five to six hundred miles. Travellers 
struck across the divide for the Sweetwater and its 
tributaries, until the foot of the Rockies is reached. 
As the eyes of our travelers had rested for a 
month upon the inow-covered peaks of the great 
stony mountains, one can imagine it was a day of 
rejoicing when they began the ascent. The trail 
up ''the South Pass" was so easy a grade that the 
horses and cattle scarcely felt the strain. One 
looking at it would surmise that this break in the 
great mountain was not an accident, but it was left 
for a great highway between the oceans, to make 
one family, and a United Nation. Striking moun- 
tains, after the long dreary summer upon the alka- 
line plains, hard as mountain-climbing is, was yet 
a change to be appreciated. I recollect distinctly, 
it turned bur little company of sturdy men (a few 
years later) into rollicking boys who whooped and 
sang to get the echoes, and rolled great stones, 
until their arms ached, crushing down the moun- 
tain-side. 



-The Effect of the Banquet Speech 57 

A Notable Celebration 

Here on the top of the Rockies, or just beyond 
the summit, is a spring appropriately named ''The 
Pacific Spring, ' ' for its pure, ice-cold water bubbles 
up and in a silvery stream winds its way westward. 
It is a beauty spot as the author well remembers. 
A little valley upon the mountains, covered with 
grass and wild flowers, with grand views of valleys 
and mountains reaching farther away than the eye 
can follow. Here the missionaries halted and 
allowed the fur-traders to pass on. It was the 
Fourth Day of July, a day ever memorable in the 
mind of every patriotic American. True they were 
but missionaries, and far from home and friends, 
but they were home-lovers and patriots. So 
spreading their blankets upon the bunch grass, they 
brought out the American flag, unfurled it, and 
with prayer and song dedicated the fair land thence 
to the Pacific, to God and the Union. It was a 
prayer and song which after history proved a 
prophecy; and one in which the actors in this little 
celebration took so brave a part as to deserve their 
names enrolled among the nation's royal benefac- 
tors. God rules the world, and all history shows 
that he oftenest leaves the great and strong, and 
takes the weak and humble to accomplish his grand 
purposes. Eternity will reveal whether that dedi- 



58 Whitman's Ride 

cation was one of the agencies which brought the 
after grand results. Certain it was, that it was 
the agency of Dr. Whitman and his heroism in 
carrying out that vow years after, and stirred up a 
spirit never before experienced, and aroused the 
nation to action. 

No stage could have been grander for such a 
celebration. Behind were the long stretches of 
the great plains, and still beyond the civilization of 
tlie continent, the hope of the Christian world; 
while before was the wilderness in all its wildness, 
reaching to the Pacific. 

The Rockies towered about them, glittering 
in the sunshine! The craggy peaks of the Wind 
River mountains loomed up in the north, with 
the Coast Range visible, like floating clouds in the 
far west. The luxurious grass, the towering 
pines, and flowers that perfumed the air, made 
the spot beautiful, while the history of the event is 
a fit theme for a grand national epic or painting. 
There have been many historic celebrations of the 
nation's birth, some upon battle-fields where vic- 
tory perched upon the "the banner of beauty and 
glory," but none more impressive than when upon 
that mountain top, in 1836, Mrs. Whitman's 
musical voice echoed from the rocks and trees, 

"The star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave, 
O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave." 



The Effect of the Banquet Speech 5:9 

They had now entered upon the scenic stage 
of their journey, and it was a dehghtful change 
from the dead levels of the plains. They luxuri- 
ated in the pure ice-cold water, and magnificent 
scenery, but it was well for them that they knew 
none of the weary climbs ahead. We will not 
pause to note events from thence to Green River. 

There they met with exciting and interesting 
savage life in all its realities. They found at ''the 
rendezvous" two thousand Indians in camp, wait- 
ing for the coming of the traders. A thousand or 
more were from the Oregon country, and among 
them friends and relatives of the Indian boys, who 
had come the long distance to meet and welcome 
them, as well as to trade. They gave the boys a 
royal greeting, as they regarded them as heroes and 
great travelers. They were proud of their accom- 
plishments in speaking like the ''Bostons," and 
when the missionaries vouched for their earnest, 
faithful services, the Indians were proud of their 
boys. Here they stayed for nearly two weeks 
waiting for the completion of the trading. The 
Indians regarded the missionaries as their guests, 
and taxed themselves to the utmost to amuse them 
by wild games and feats of horsemanship and 
mimic battles. They scoured the hills and woods 
for game, brought fish from the river, and seemed 
to think even that not doing enough. They at all 



6o Whitman's Ride 



times treated ''the white squaws" with the greatest 
courtesy. Mrs. Whitman marks this in her diary. 
She says: 

"One of the chiefs brought his wife to our tent, and taking 
off his cap and bowing gracefully, introduced her as politely 
as any civilized man. Such encourages me to believe that 
much can be done for these poor people, and I long to be at 
work." 



CHAPTER IV 



''Old Click-Click-Clackety-Clackety,'' the Historic 
Wagon. Breaking Camps and its Incidents, and 
the End oj the Journey. 

BREAKING camp at Green River was a 
noisy and gleeful occasion. Half-starved 
Indian ponies, when they have rested a few 
weeks, generally rebel when packs are cinched 
with a ''diamond hitch" around their well-marked 
ribs. Upon this occasion amusement was diversified 
and enjoyable, even to the actors. But both Indians 
and traders were no novices in such business, and 
soon the companies bade good by to each other and 
started along the trails to their widely scattered 
homes. It was the great exciting social event of 
Indian life, this distant visit to trade. The Indians 
there met friends and relatives, exchanged gossip, 
gathered the few luxuries and necessaries of life for 
the year to come. They brought with them squaws 
and some of their children, and enjoyed their out- 
ing in their savage way as much as the elite do the 
seashore or Saratoga, and judging of both, one 
would say they had more fun. The Oregon 
Indians were all anxious to be escorts to ''the 
6i 



62 Whitman's Ride 



Boston teachers." There were two intelligent 
traders from Oregon, Messrs. McKay and McLeod, 
who offered escort to the little company, which 
was gladly accepted, and they were of invalu- 
able service in that most difficult portion of the 
journey. The faithful Indian boys, however, held 
their places of honor and trust to the last. Mrs. 
Spalding had for some time been on horseback, 
and enjoyed it more than the wagon, traversing 
the rocky roads. There was no longer need of 
two wagons, and one was left at the rendezvous; 
but **the brides' wagon" pulled out with the pack- 
train. My young readers may think it an uninter- 
esting object to write about, but they must remem- 
ber it is ''the brides' wagon," fitted up with all the 
little accommodations for the first two white women 
who braved the dangerous journey across the 
great stony mountains to the Pacific. True, it 
was battered and worn, dust and mud and storms 
had robbed it of style. It is well for those who 
ride in palace cars and whizzing 'autos to remem- 
ber the days of their great grandfathers and grand- 
mothers, who, amid privations and perils, with the 
parting blessings of Puritan homes, pulled across 
the Alleghanies in rough wagons and hewed out 
homes, and built this great empire of the Middle 
West. The more often we remember the heroines 
of the past the more we will enjoy this grandest 



The Historic Old Wagon 6^ 

inheritance of the present ever left to any people. 
But there was more than sentiment to this wagon 
as we shall see later on. It figuratively blazed the 
way, and ^'marked a wagon-road to the Columbia, " 
and years after silenced the eloquence of America's 
greatest orator! 

The battered old wagon was a source of amuse- 
ment to the Indians, who rode in troops by its side to 
see the wheels go round, and hear its clatter. 
Especially was it a novelty to the younger Indians, 
who at once named it ''Old Click-Click-Clackety- 
Clackety. " There was a plain wagon-road from 
the Missouri to Green River, and from thence to 
Fort Hall — there it stopped. The royal owners 
of Oregon had long before prophesied and decreed, 
''there would never be a wagon-road to the Colum- 
bia!" They did not want one. 

The company reached Fort Hall safely, which 
was an outpost of the English Company, and only 
a pack trail led westward to the Columbia. Cap- 
tain Grant, in command of the post, knew his busi- 
ness, and that was never to allow a wagon to go 
beyond Fort Hall. He at once told the company 
of the dangers and perils of the journey, of the im- 
practicability of hauling a wagon. If tried it would 
so detain them that they would be caught in the 
snows upon the mountains and perish. His ear- 
nestness and arguments were such that he convinced 



64 Whitman's Ride 

most of them, who favored abandoning the wagon. 
Even Mrs. Whitman joined others in the entreaty 
to Dr. Whitman to leave the wagon and move on. 
*'The Silent Man" said little, but went on with his 
preparations, and when the pack-train moved out, 
*'01d Click-Click-Clackety-Clackety" clacked in 
the rear as usual. The real facts are, that Cap- 
tain Grant had scarcely overstated the dangers and 
difficulties of the undertaking. From the day they 
left Fort Hall until the memorable baptism of the 
wagon in Snake River, the old wagon is one of the 
constant themes of Mrs. Whitman's diary. We 
read, ** Husband had a tedious time with the wagon 
to-day. It got stuck in a creek and he had to 
wade to get it out. After that in going up the 
mountain the wagon upset twice. ' ' She describes 
the steep up and down mountain trails where at 
times the mules had to be unhitched and the wagon 
lowered with ropes (as the writer a few years later 
was compelled to do). She adds, **I wondered 
that the wagon was not turning somersaults all the 
time. It is not grateful to my feelings to see him 
wearing himself out with such fatigue. All the 
mountain part of the way he has walked in labori- 
ous attempts to take the wagon." About one 
week later Mrs. Whitman writes, gleefully, "The 
axletree of the wagon broke to-day. I was a little 
rejoiced, for we are in hopes it will now be left. ' * 




THE RUGGED TRAIL TO OREGON. 



The Old Historic Wagon 6^ 

She adds, in her next note, ''Our rejoicing was in 
vain; they have made the wagon into a cart with the 
back wheels, and lashed the front wheels to the 
sides, determined to take it through in some shape 
or other. " ''Worse yet" (she writes a week later), 
"The hills are so steep and rocky, husband thinks 
it best to lighten the load as much as possible, and 
haul nothing but the wheels, leaving the box and 
the trunk!" What do you think of that, my 
girl readers? The brides' trunk, that came from 
the far-away home, with all its mementoes and 
tender memories to be sacrificed, and "only the 
wheels" taken! But the gallant McLeod solved 
the problem and ordered the trunk packed on one 
of his mules, and it made the journey safely, and 
the old wagon made into a cart, but its wheels and 
every iron sacredly preserved, was still a wagon; 
and under a power impressed upon one brave soul 
it moved on its great way, marking a wagon-road 
and a highway between the oceans. Those may 
smile who will, but they do not think deep, nor do 
they estimate how small and seemingly insignificant 
events shape the greatest events in a personal, and 
even national, life. 

The last note of Mrs. Whitman's diary referring 
to the wagon says: 

''August 13. We have just crossed the Snake River, the 
packs were removed from the ponies and placed on the tallest 



66 Whitman's Ride 



horses, while two of the highest were selected for Mrs. Spalding 
and me. Mr. McLeod gave me his and rode mine. The river 
is divided into three channels by islands, the last, a half a mile 
wide, and our direction was against the current, which made 
it hard for the horses, as the water was up to their sides. 
Husband had a difificult time with the cart, as both mules and 
cart upset in midstream, and the animals got tangled in the 
harness, and would have drowned but for the desperate strug- 
gle for their release. Two of the strongest horses were taken 
into the river and hitched to the cart, while two men swam 
behind and guided it safely to the shore." 

There they were at Fort Boise, beyond the 
Snake, and in Oregon! The wagon-road was 
made! It was within easy reach of their future 
home. There it was decided to leave the cart until 
spring, together with half a dozen footsore cattle, 
which could be sent for, or exchanged for others at 
Fort Walla Walla. Packs were now divided and 
the patient mules, which had long drawn the cart, 
became packers. 

An old wagon is the common rubbish in every 
farm-yard, and if my reader enters a protest to 
the large place I have given it, or to protest against 
Marcus Whitman for his persistent refusal to take 
the advice of his companions, I will state in simple 
defense, I believe Whitman was an inspired man! 
He never once made such claim, even to the wife 
he almost adored. Later on, as we shall see, he 
obeyed the same voice under far more trying cir- 



The Old Historic Wagon 67 

cumstances, when called to make his midwinter 
ride to save Oregon. 

When his friends insisted in saying, *'It is like 
going down into the valley and shadow of death; 
wait until spring, ' ' his only answer was, ' ' I must 
go now!" Who can fathom such mysteries in any 
other way than that I have mentioned. The 
chances are, he never dreamed of making a trail 
for a great transcontinental traffic. It is not at all 
likely that ever the thought came to him that he 
should guide a great immigrant train over the same 
route a few years later and the brides' wagon proved 
a notable factor in his success. 

The Last March 

The incumbrances left behind, the company 
moved on as rapidly as the loose stock could be 
driven. It was still a wild, rugged road, but much 
of the country traversed was beautiful. They were 
all now on horseback, and all their worldly posses- 
sions on pack-saddles. The weather was delightful, 
game abundant, and there was now no danger of 
starving, although they had long been without all 
the luxuries common to civilization. But best of 
all, they were buoyed up by the near completion of 
a nearly seven months' journey of hardships and 
danger. The day before they were to reach Fort 



68 Whitman's Ride 



Walla Walla, the Doctor and Mrs. Whitman rode 
ahead of the company, and camped under the trees 
on the bank of the river, eight miles from the Fort. 
At daylight they were upon the road. Who 
can imagine the delight of the tired travelers, as 
they came in sight, at a distance, of human habi- 
tations and civilization! They spurred their horses 
into a gallop and rode to the gates of the Fort 
just as the occupants were sitting down to break- 
fast. The men and women of the Fort came at 
once and admitted them through the gates, and 
gave them a cordial welcome, and did their best to 
make them feel at ease. 

Mrs. Whitman writes in her diary: 

"September i, 1836. We reached here this morning just 
as they were sitting down to breakfast. We were soon seated 
at table and treated to fresh salmon, potatoes, tea, bread, and 
butter; what a variety thought I. You cannot imagine what an 
appetite those rides in the mountain air give a person." 

She playfully adds that, 

"While at breakfast a rooster perched himself upon the 
doorstep, and crowed lustily. Whether it was in honor of the 
arrival of the first two white women, or as a general compli- 
ment to the company, I know not, but he pleased me." 

The rest of the company reached the fort 
during the afternoon. Here they all were, and 
none missing, right upon the scene of their prob- 
able future labor. 

The Cayuse Indians who had earnestly inter- 



The Old Historic Wagon 69 

ceded for teachers were the owners of a great 
tract of fertile land on both sides of the 
Walla Walla River. Adjoining them, one hundred 
miles distant, was the Nez Perces, to whom all the 
missionaries felt indebted and attracted, because 
of the boy friends who had so faithfully served 
them during the long journey, and as well for their 
amiable dispositions. The Cayuse were smart 
Indians, whose wealth was in horses, which roamed 
over their rich pastures, and without care, kept fat 
the year through. But the Cayuse were not like 
the Nez Perces, always to be relied upon. They 
were sharp traders, and notably tricky. But our 
missionaries found they could do nothing by way 
of settlement until they presented their credentials 
and consulted with the ruling authorities— the 
English Hudson Bay Company at Vancouver, two 
hundred and fifty miles down the Columbia. They 
were urged to stop and rest before making the long 
journey, but so eager were they to get to their 
work, and to make preparations for the winter, 
that they declined the kind invitation. Large 
boats were secured, and strong-armed, experienced 
Indian rowers soon bore the party to their destina- 
tion, through a land, and along rivers romantic- 
ally interesting. They found great bands of 
Indians on their route, especially at the rapids, and 
The Dalles, where many found employment, as 



yo Whitman's Ride 

boats and goods had to be carried for miles to 
smooth water. Dr. Whitman at once marked The 
Dalles as an ideal place for a mission.* 

Dr. McLoughlin, the chief factor of the Hud- 
son Bay Company, received the party most cor- 
dially, and bade them welcome. He was known 
among the Indians as ''The great white head 
chief." He was a giant in stature, a gentleman 
of culture and education, and a man with a soul as 
large as his body. From the outset there seemed 
to be a freemasonry attachment between Whitman 
and McLoughlin. They were much alike, physi- 
cally and mentally. They were both physicians 
and men with high moral character, stamped in 
every act of their lives. McLoughlin carried out 
fixed principles in all his dealings with the Indians; 
he never allowed them cheated in any trade; he 
lived up to every promise made; and the savage 
tribes, in every quarter, obeyed his commands like 
good soldiers do their general. Whitman laid bare 
the whole case, how and why they were there, and 
concealed nothing. His ideas freely given were, 
that he believed savages must first be taught 
to build homes, plant and sow, and raise cattle, 
sheep, and stop their roaming life. This was 
directly what the Hudson Bay people did not want. 

* Years after, and just before Dr. Whitman's death, he purchased the 
old Methodist Mission at The Dalles. His later judgment justified his first 
impressions. 



The Old Historic Wagon 71 

They wanted furs and skins, and to get them whole 
tribes must each year migrate to the distant hunt- 
ing and trapping regions. Dr. McLoughhn, while 
anxious to serve the missionaries, was yet true to 
his company. He had placed the Methodist mis- 
sionaries Jason and Daniel Lee the year before far 
up the Willamette, and he explained to Dr. Whit- 
man that The Dalles was not the place for a mission, 
and that it would be far better for the company 
and for the missionaries, to settle in a more 
distant quarter. It all resulted in Dr. Whitman 
going to the Cayuse on the Walla Walla, and Dr. 
Spalding to the Nez Perces, one hundred and 
twenty-five miles further on. 

McLoughlin was so impressed with the honesty 
and earnestness of his guests, that he gave them 
liberty to draw upon him for anything he could 
furnish for their use and comfort. Such an un- 
looked-for kindness was greatly appreciated. And 
we may add, as far as Dr. McLoughlin could exe- 
cute the promise, it was sacredly fulfilled. It is 
well to constantly remember that without his kindly 
aid the missionaries of Oregon would have suffered, 
or even starved. Having settled these important 
preliminaries, the little company was impatient to 
be at its work. McLoughlin saw the necessity 
of house-building in preparation for the winter, but 
protested against the wives leaving his roof until 



72 Whitman's Ride 

homes were provided, and when he saw that 
they hesitated and feared that they would tax 
hospitahty, he at once overcome all by stating it 
would not overtax, but would be a great favor to 
him if Mrs. Whitman would remain and give his 
daughter lessons in music. So it was arranged — ■ 
The husbands with helpers, tools, and seeds de- 
parted for the scene of their future homes. 

The Cayuse Indians were delighted with the 
arrangement, and at once set off six hundred and 
forty acres of their best land at the junction of two 
branches of the Walla Walla River for the mis- 
sion. Here the Doctor, his two teamsters, and 
two he had hired set about house-building. 
There were small trees all about the grounds and 
along the river, but none suitable for lumber or 
boards. For all such they had to go from eight to 
ten miles up the river to the foot of the Blue 
Mountains, and saw by hand, or rive boards, 
pack them on horses, or float them down the rapid 
river. It is easy to see that house-building was no 
picnic job under such circumstances. But Whit- 
man was not an ''eight-hour man," and he never 
*' struck." He toiled early and late, and camped 
down in the forest, and went to sleep with the 
musical howl of the wolf in his ears. The result 
was, in less than six weeks there loomed up ''a 
commodious house," of one great room, with a 



The Old Historic Wagon 73 

large open fireplace and nearly ready for guests. 
It had a shingled roof, places for windows and 
doors, and while the Doctor added the many little 
conveniences for comfort. Dr. Spalding went to 
Vancouver to escort the women, who were impa- 
tient, and anxious to be helpers of their husbands. 
A house, whether a cabin or a palace, is never a 
home until a good wife enters its doors. A man 
alone can no more make a home home-like than 
he can pack a trunk. 



CHAPTER V 



The Home-coming. The Beginning oj Missionary 
Lije. Clarissa, "the Little White Cayuse Queen^ 
Her Death. Sketches oj Daily Events. 

AFTER a somewhat tedious journey up the 
river for two hundred and fifty miles, 
against the current and strong winds, Mrs. 
Whitman and her escort reached the mission station 
December lOth, and alighted from her horse at the 
cabin door after dark, while the wolves from the 
farther banks of the Walla Walla united in a vigor- 
ous howl, either of protest or of welcome. My girl 
readers may imagine that the surroundings were 
not such as would call out any enthusiasm in 
a young wife, entering her first home. And yet 
there is a beautiful lesson of contentment, thank- 
fulness, and love shown in the words of this earnest 
little Christian woman, surrounded by savage life. 
She writes in her diary: 

"We reached our new home December lOth, found a house 
reared, and the lean-to inclosed, a good chimney and fire- 
place, and the floor laid, but no windows or doors, except 
blankets. My heart truly leaped for joy as I alighted from my 
horse, entered, and seated myself before a pleasant fire, for it 
was night and the air chilly." 

74 



The Home-Coming 75 

Again, December 26th, she writes (you will 
observe the date, one day after the world's greatest 
anniversary): 

"Where are we now, and who are we, that we should be so 
blessed of the Lord? I can scarcely realize that we are thus 
comfortably fixed and keeping house, so soon after our 
marriage, when I consider what was before us." 

Think of it, girls! no chairs except those rudely 
made with skins stretched across them. Table 
made of four posts, covered with boards sawed by 
hand; stools made of logs sawed of proper length; 
pegs along the walls upon which to hang the cloth- 
ing, nails being too expensive a luxury to use. 
Beds were bunks fastened to the walls, and filled 
with dried grass and leaves, and yet the young 
bride, accustomed to the luxuries of civilization, 
set about building a home around which always 
cluster life's comforts and joys. Every page of her 
diary speaks her thankfulness for unnumbered bless- 
ings, and not a discordant note, or a complaint, or a 
regret in all the pages. If I were to stop to moral- 
ize, I should mark the love that only comes where 
gold glitters, as the demoralizing agency of our day 
in this Christian land. Young people desire too 
often to start in life rich, even when their honored 
parents toiled for years for life comforts. This 
desire for wealth is to-day so universal as to mark 
it the chief aim of life. To start rich and be happy 



I 



76 Whitman's Ride 

have lured a multitude to misery. The little story 
I relate, however, tells its own moral in its simple 
facts, and needs few words to impress its beautiful 
lessons. 

Mrs. Whitman thus describes the great farm 
and its surroundings. I have many times wan- 
dered over the old place, and cannot better describe 
it than to insert a note from her diary: 

/ "It is a lovely situation. We are on a level peninsula 

/ formed by the two branches of the Walla Walla River. Our 

house stands on the southeast shore of the main river. To 
run a fence across, from river to river, will inclose three hun- 
dred acres of good land, and all directly under the eye. Just 
east of the house rises a range of low hills, covered with bunch 
grass almost as rich as oats, for the stock. The Indians have 
named the place 'Waiilatpui,' the place of the rye grass." 

Upon one of the highest of those hills in the 
East, which Mrs. Whitman refers to, the pio- 
neers of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho recently 
erected a stately marble monument to Whitman, 
and at its base is "the great grave" containing the 
remains of Dr. and Mrs. Whitman, and twelve 
others who perished in the massacre, which will be 
referred to more particularly in another chapter. 

Dr. Whitman regarded it his first duty to 
plan to live in comfort, and set his Indians a 
good example. He toiled day and night in making 
his arrangements to plant and sow in the early 
spring months. The Indians flocked about the 



The Home-Coming yy 

mission in great numbers, curious to see the active, 
earnest work of the man, and wondering at his 
accompHshments. Mrs. Whitman soon organ- 
ized classes of Indian children, and entered 
with enthusiasm upon the work to which she had 
dedicated her life. Indian children are bright, 
docile, and quick-witted, and she soon had them 
under control, and saw rapid progress, con- 
sidering the fact that each had to learn the lan- 
guage of the other at the start. The Cayuse were 
very anxious for their children to learn all the 
secrets of ''great medicine" and often sat around 
the yard and grounds in groups to take mental 
note of events. Whitman tried hard, by example 
and otherwise, to persuade the Indians to lend a 
helping hand at work; now and then they would 
join him in some heavy lifting which one man could 
not do, but they did not believe that Indian men 
were made to work, that "work was only for 
squaws. ' ' 

What Whitman accomplished may be best seen 
by a short extract from a book written by T. J. 
Farnham, who visited the mission in 1839, three 
years later. He writes: 

"I found two hundred and fifty acres inclosed and two 
hundred acres under good cultivation. I found from forty to 
fifty Indian children in the school, and Mrs. Whitman an inde- 
fatigable instructor. One new building was in course of con- 



yS Whitman's Ride 

struction, and a small grist mill in running order. It appeared 
to me quite remarkable that the Doctor could have accom- 
plished so much since 1836, and act as physician to the Indians, 
and also to the distant mission stations at Clearwater and 
Spokane. He could not have done so, and kept the mission 
work to its high standard, only by the tactful and unceasing 
work of Mrs. Whitman." 

The Rev. Dr. Jonathan Edwards, writing of the 
mission, which he visited in 1842, says: 

"I found the Indians had taken a practical lesson from the 
Doctor, and were '[each cultivating for themselves from one- 
fourth to four acres of ground, and they had seventy head of 
cattle and a few sheep." 

The great crops of wheat, barley, potatoes, 
melons, and vegetables so easily raised in the rich 
soil were a revelation to the Indians, and taught 
them just the practical lessons the Doctor so much 
desired. His theory was, that little could be done 
in a religious way with the Indians until he could 
induce them to build homes, and plant and sow and 
reap, and adopt the methods of civilized people. 
Many had been induced to build houses, and much 
of the unnecessary nomadic life had been aban- 
doned. Mrs. Whitman retained her wonderful 
voice and sang and won the hearts of the savages, 
long before she knew enough of the language to 
make the sentiment of her songs impressive les- 
sons. From the outset she was regarded as their 
friend, and they embraced every opportunity, in 



The Home-ComIng 79 

their crude way, to show their appreciation. They 
often brought her presents of venison and wild 
fowl, which was an agreeable change of diet from 
the horse meat they were compelled to use for over 
three years. Their stock of cattle and sheep and 
hogs was too small to be used for food. 

Mrs. Whitman says in her diary, in 1838: *'To 
supply our men and many visitors we have this 
year bought of the Indians and eaten ten wild 
horses. ' ' Those young Cayuse horses that roamed 
over the rich pastures and nearly as wild as the 
deer, are not such bad food, as the author can 
testify. They are not to be compared with the old 
broken-down horses sometimes used for food by 
civilized people. Mrs. Whitman, in her diary, 
seldom enters a complaint against her Indian 
wards. She treated them as friends; nothing was 
kept under lock and key, and she declares nothing 
was ever stolen. But they liked to roam all over 
the house and were curious to see everything. 
After the home had been enlarged, as it had been 
each year, and bedrooms were added, she had a 
difficult task in teaching the Indian men that it was 
not proper for them to open the door or enter a 
lady's bedroom. They seemed to have difficulty 
in understanding that it was ''a sacred place," and 
appeared hurt and aggrieved, lest that in some 
way they had lost favor with their good friend. 



8o Whitman's Ride 



A Notable Event 

Perhaps I should have noted it long before this, 
for it was a distinct event to these two people, so 
far separated from kindred and civilized friends, 
when a little girl baby came to cheer their rude 
home in the wilderness, seemed a gracious gift 
direct from paradise. To the Indians she was a 
wonder and delight. Great burly savages with 
their squaws came from miles and miles away to 
look upon the "little white squaw baby." They 
seemed to think it a great privilege and honor to be 
permitted to touch the soft, white cheek with a 
finger. To the sixty and seventy Indian children in 
the school, the baby was more interesting than their 
lessons, and the older and more careful Indian girls 
who were permitted to nurse and care for the little 
one during school hours were envied by all others. 

In the pure health-giving air, with her vigorous 
constitution, the baby grew strong and vigorous. 
She was a precocious child physically and mentally, 
and before she was a year and a half old, she spoke 
both the English and Indian language. Her con- 
stant association with Indian children made her 
even more familiar with their language than the 
English. She had inherited a wonderful musical 
voice from her mother, and sang as the birds sing, 
because they cannot help singing. 



The Home-Coming 8i 

Later on, she incorporated Cayuse words in her 
songs which deHghted the Indians, and they thought 
her almost more than human. Every day they 
would lounge around the yard and watch every 
movement and listen to her songs. The old chief 
was one of her great admirers; he called her "the 
little white Cayuse Queen,'* and openly gave notice 
that he would make her the heir to all his wealth, 
for he was rich, as the Indians understood riches. 
We have had but the meager facts, those written 
by Mrs. Whitman to her family and the notes in 
her diary, to guide us in telling the story of this 
fleeting beautiful young life. 

An Impending Calamity 

But an affliction was impending, even before 
the child reached two and a half years of age. It 
was Sunday morning in June, and none brighter 
or more glorious than June days in Oregon, and 
the little girl had been permitted by her father 
as usual to select the hymn for the morning ser- 
vice. The hymn was one unusual for the child of 
her tender years, but you must remember that at 
that far-away date there were few hymns adapted 
to children, and she selected one she had memo- 
rized. It was the olden-time favorite 



82 Whitman's Ride 



''Rock oj Ages 

* 'While I draw this fleeting breath, 
When my eyelids- close in death, 
When I rise to worlds unknown. 
And behold Thee on Thy throne ; 
Rock of Ages, cleft for me. 
May I hide myself in Thee." 

This was the morning family service; in the 
afternoon there was a large attendance of the 
Indians. The Doctor led the service, and for 
the opening hymn selected the same one sung in 
the morning, and the little girl's sweet childish 
voice chimed in beautifully with the rich soprano 
of her mother. Mrs. Whitman writes, ''This was 
the last we ever heard her sing. " I never hear 
*'Rock of Ages, " but it calls to mind little Clarissa, 
and her wilderness home, where the angelic mes- 
sengers hovered even then, to bear the dear child, 
in the words of her song, ''to worlds unknown." 

After the service Mrs. Whitman was busy in 
the preparation of the evening meal for her large 
family; the little child was here and there, busy 
as usual, and had not been missed until five min- 
utes before the alarm was given, and a hurried 
search made in every direction, with calls that were 
unanswered. They had a path which led to the 
Walla Walla River, sixty or more yards away, and 
a platform built out, so that pure water could be 



The Home-Coming 83 

dipped up for family use. There upon the plat- 
form they found one of her little red tin cups, which 
was a treasure she greatly prized. The Indian 
who found it at once reached the conclusion that 
the little girl had fallen in while attempting to dip 
the water. He at once dived in, and allowing the 
rapid current to drift his body as it would the child, 
he soon seized the clothing and bore the little body, 
yet warm, to its father's arms. Every effort was 
made to recall the life which had departed, but in 
vain. Possibly my young readers may inquire why 
was this permitted.'* Why was the dear child 
taken, and such sorrow left in the home.'* Such 
thoughts and utterances have occurred thousands 
of times during the centuries. The pure, the good, 
and the true depart, and the vicious often live on. 
We indeed "look through a glass darkly" on this 
earth, but we may know more for the reasons of 
life when we reach the life beyond. 

Certainly such events are trials of Christian 
faith in multitudes of Christian homes! Did they 
come too near worshiping the child? Was it likely 
the great, strong man who was to be called to a 
great work would have been turned aside from it 
had the child lived.? Could the "Silent Man" have 
left that tender charge in the wilderness to answer 
a call to duty? Who can answer? Dr. Whitman 
himself writes nothing of the event. But one 



84 _ Whitman's Ride 

glancing at the notes of Mrs. Whitman's diary, 
will see revealed the profoundly Christian charac- 
ter of the mother. She writes, "Lord, it is right, 
it is right! She is not mine, but Thine! She was 
only lent to me to comfort me for a little season, 
and now, dear Saviour, Thou hast the best right to 
her. Thy will, not mine, be done!" One seldom 
reads a better sermon upon Christian faith than 
that. 

The effect of the death of "the little white 
Cayuse Queen" upon the Indians was marked. 
They had but little of the faith of the mother's 
heart to buoy them up. They could not under- 
stand it. The Indians were superstitious, and 
they conceived it to be a judgment, sent by the 
Great Spirit, upon Dr. Whitman, and that he was 
displeased with "Great White Medicine." From 
that event the older Indians appear to have lost 
most of their interest in the mission and its work, 
and the task of the missionaries never after ran as 
smoothly as before. The best of them still attended 
the religious services, and the school flourished. 
The medicine men of the Cayuse had long been 
jealous of Whitman's power, and they helped 
the grumblers and mischief-makers to lessen the 
Doctor's power and influence with the tribe. 

The occupants of the mission were very busy 
people. The fields and gardens produced bounti- 



The Home-Coming 85 

ful crops, but it required it all to feed the many at 
the mission, and the hungry transient guests. It 
was upon the direct route of immigrants — many 
sick and impoverished, and they all met with hos- 
pitable welcome. Mrs. Whitman writes, in her 
diary, "In some respects we are in a trying situ- 
ation, being missionaries and not traders." Dr. 
Spalding, who was more intimately associated with 
Whitman and his work than any other man, years 
after Whitman's death, made this record. 

"Immigrants by the hundreds, and later on, and near the 
close of his life, by the thousands, reached his mission, weary, 
worn, hungry, sick, and often destitute, but he cared for them 
all. Seven small childten of one family, by the death of 
parents, were left upon the hands of the Doctor and his wife, 
one a babe four months old. They adopted them with four 
others, furnishing food and clothing without pay. Frequently 
the Doctor would give away his entire food supply, and send 
to me for grain to get him through the winter." 

The Cayuse Indians were scarcely a fair test of 
Dr. Whitman's theories of Indian elevation and 
civilization. They were smart, shrewd traders, 
and not fur-hunters, and a low state of morals 
existed. While many of the older ones accepted 
the Doctor's advice of living in peace with sur- 
rounding tribes and treating them honestly, yet 
many of the younger Indians rebelled against his 
strict rules, and went on forays that he severely 
condemned. In one case a distant tribe owed a 



86 Whitman's Ride 



debt which they had failed to pay, and the Cayuse 
braves made a foray and stole their horses to pay 
the debt. The Doctor made a vigorous protest, 
and the young bloods had to take back their 
booty, but it estranged many of the influential, 
younger Indians, who rebelled against such strict 
moral methods. Such conditions grew with the 
years. They were near the fort, and came oftener 
under the influence of the Canadian fur-traders 
and hangers-on of the Hudson Bay Company, and as 
we shall see later on, were easily led to believe the 
stories started at the time of the great ride, that 
* 'Whitman's designs were to kill off all the Indians, 
and take possession of their lands. ' ' But we will 
not enter into any discussion of the direct causes 
which led up to the great disaster of 1847, many 
of them not well authenticated. 

The Nez Perces presided over by Dr. Spalding, 
whose mission was intimately associated with that 
of Whitman, and one in which he took a deep inter- 
est, was a much more tractable tribe, and have 
ever since proved their training. They are per- 
haps to-day as fine specimens of civilized Indians 
as can be found in the United States. From the 
year 1836, when Dr. and Mrs. Spalding took 
charge of them, they have never raised an arm or 
showed enmity against white people. One little 
faction led by a minor chief, at one time joined a 



The Home-Coming 87 

war party, which, however, was not countenanced 
by the tribe. At the time of the great massacre, 
when Dr. and Mrs. Spalding were also expecting 
death, the Nez Perces rallied around them, and five 
hundred of their bravest warriors escorted them 
to civilization and safety, braving the scorn and 
enmity of hostile tribes. To-day they are Christian 
people, have five flourishing Presbyterian churches, 
good schools, and productive farms. Every 
fourth of July all the churches unite in "a yearly 
meeting, ' ' raise American flags, hear speeches and 
sermons, and patriotic songs. In the fine two- 
volume history and biography of his father. General 
Stevens, who was the first governor of Washington 
Territory, Captain Hazard Stevens pays a noble 
tribute to the work of the early missionaries and 
the Nez Perces. He specifies as many as three 
occasions when all the other tribes were on the war- 
path, the Nez Perces stood loyal, and saved the 
lives of the governor and his party. True, we 
cannot, in view of the facts, have much to say of 
the Cayuse, but they were not all bad. It was 
related by those who visited the Cayuse in their 
reservation, to which they were banished after 
the massacre, that ''fourteen years after, old 
Istikus, every Sunday morning went to the door 
of his tent and rang the old sacred mission bell, 
and invited all to come to prayers. ' ' How little or 



88 Whitman's Ride 



how much of Christianity was planted in Indian 
souls by the pioneer missionaries of Oregon eter- 
nity alone will reveal. 

But we venture the assertion that the American 
Board and Christian people, in view of the good we 
know of the Indians such as I have recited, and 
the overwhelmingly invaluable services of Dr. 
Whitman to Christianity and the nation, no wiser 
expenditure was ever made by that great organi- 
zation. 

There is not a blight nor a blur upon the lives 
of the messengers of salvation who answered the 
Indian's call for ''The White Man's Book of 
Heaven." They sacrificed ease and comfort and 
home and friends that they might brighten Indian 
life and point the way to the life to come. The 
strange thing about it all is, that the great multi- 
tude even of intelligent. Christian people have either 
never heard of or forgot to do them honor. 

We must now turn for a brief retrospect of 
pioneer history relating to early Oregon. The 
author begs his young readers not to shun the 
chapter. It is important, for it is the key that 
unlocks the brave story to follow, of "Whitman's 
ride." It is good history to know, for it shows 
the stepping-stones of the nation's greatest progress. 



CHAPTER VI 



Briej Sketch of Discovery and History of Oregon 
Country. When Discovered! Who Owned It! 
By What Title! The Various Treaties, and 
Final Contest. 

UPON the opening of the year 1792, the 
Oregon country was an unknown and un- 
explored land. It had been believed that 
a great river entered the Northern Pacific, and 
several nations had, from time to time, made in- 
vestigations. It had been reported that ancient 
navigators had discovered it a century previous, 
but if so, it had no place upon any map. It was 
in that year that Captain Robert Gray, a merchant 
trader, whose ship was fitted out in Boston by a 
syndicate of merchants achieved the honor. Cap- 
tain Gray was a native American, born in Tiverton, 
Rhode Island, in 1755, and died in Charleston, 
South Carolina, in 1800, eight years after his dis- 
covery. He was an observant sailor, as well as a 
Yankee trader, and as he was sailing leisurely in a 
gentle breeze, from forty to sixty miles from the 
shore, he observed a change in the color of the 
water, and upon testing it, found it comparatively 

89 



90 



Whitman's Ride 



fresh. He at once reached the conclusion that he 
had found the mysterious, long-sought river. 
Turning the bow of his vessel toward the shore, 
and keeping as near what appeared the middle of 
the fresh-water current, he, at first venture, en- 
tered the mouth of the river, and luckily one of 
its most easily navigated outlets (for it has several). 
He sailed up the river, anchored in its wide bay 
near where Astoria now stands, and raising the 
American flag, took possession in the name of the 
United States. He was impressed with the im- 
mense volume of water pouring into the ocean, and 
the grandeur of the great harbor, from six to ten 
miles wide, and the wild beauty of the new land. 
He sailed up and down the river, sounded its 
depths, traded his goods with savage tribes for furs 
and skins, got fresh supplies of pure water, fish, 
and venison. After a more than usual prolonged 
stay for a trading vessel, he again put out to sea, 
having named the great river after his staunch 
vessel, '*The Columbia." * 

It so happened that a week or more before 
making his great discovery he had spoken, at sea, 
to Captain Vancouver, of the English navy, who 
was upon a voyage of discovery on the Northern 
Pacific Coast. A few days after emerging from 

*. . . . "He was the first, 
That ever burst, into that silent sea." 



Brief Sketch of the Oregon Country 9 1 

the river he again came in hailing distance of the 
English ship, and announced to Captain Vancouver 
his great discovery, giving him all the bearings 
which had been accurately taken. Captain Van- 
couver immediately changed his course, found the 
entrance, entered the river, sailed up the Willa- 
mette to its falls, up the Columbia to the rapids, 
and formally took possession in the name of Eng- 
land! It is a singular fact that both Spain and 
England that year each had a ship along the coast 
upon voyages of discovery. We are accustomed 
to call such events as *'it so happened," but 
whether accidental or providential, America was 
ahead. It will be well to keep these facts in mind, 
for upon them hinges all claims England had upon 
Oregon! Yet, weak as they were, she held supreme 
possession of all Oregon for nearly half a century, 
and as we shall show, had it not been for the heroic 
work of the old pioneer missionaries, would prob- 
ably have held the whole fair land for all time to 
come. England owned the territory northward 
from the United States, whose boundaries were not 
accurately defined. Even those along the borders 
of the New England states were not definitely fixed, 
and were a source of constant conflict until settled 
by the Ashburton treaty as late as 1846. The line 
between the United States and Canada ran west- 
ward to the Rocky Mountains, and there ended. 



92 Whitman's Ride 

Thirty-five years later, while England was in full 
possession of Oregon, by a treaty signed in 1818, 
to run for ten years (and was renewed in 1827 for 
ten years more), her commissioners claimed that 
they were ''the owners of Oregon by discovery." 
They argued that ''Captain Gray only discovered 
the mouth of the river, while Captain Vancouver 
made full and complete discovery"; that "Captain 
Gray's claim was limited to the mouth of the river, 
and that he was only a merchant, sailor, and trader, 
and not a legitimate discoverer, while Captain Van- 
couver was a commander in his Majesty's navy." 
Mark, then, the discovery, in 1792, as the 
United States' first claim to Oregon. When the 
United States purchased the claims of France to 
all the great possession west of the Mississippi 
River, it was supposed at the time to reach the 
Pacific Ocean and include the Oregon country, and 
was so marked on the maps until the publication of 
the latest government map, which marks "The 
Louisiana Purchase, ' ' reaching only to the Rock- 
ies. So, by the after-light of history, we can make 
no claim to Oregon from that purchase. But 
President Jefferson, who had a more enthusiastic 
interest in the Oregon country than did any other 
of the statesmen of his day, evidently believed his 
purchase from France included the Oregon coun« 
try, for he at once began to plan a voyage, for 



Brief Sketch of the Oregon Country 93 

survey and discovery, of all the lands from the 
Mississippi to the Pacific. 

Jefferson looked much farther into the future 
grandeur of the nation than his fellows. While 
minister to France he met the great traveler and 
ornithologist, Audubon, and became deeply inter- 
ested in the mysteries of the Western wilderness. 
He attempted upon his return to America, by 
private subscription, to send out an exploring ex- 
pedition under the guidance of Audubon. But the 
death of the great naturalist defeated the enterprise. 

Jefferson, in 1800, was elected President; he 
made the great Louisiana purchase; he believed it 
extended to the Pacific; and it was through him 
that the Lewis and Clark expedition was fitted out 
in 1804, and sent on its mission to explore the 
land. My young readers who desire the complete 
and thrilling story of the Lewis and Clark expe- 
dition can find it in '^The Conquest," by Mrs. Eva 
Emory Dye of Oregon City. 

The third claim for American ownership was 
the settlement at Astoria by the Astor Fur Com- 
pany, in 181 1. It had but a short life, as it was 
captured by the English early in the year of 18 12, 
and not returned until after the final treaty of 1846. 
Spain held an old fort on lands south of the 
Oregon country, really a shadowy and uncertain 
title. In 181 8 a general treaty with Spain was 



94 Whitman's Ride 

signed in which she gave to the United States all 
claims she possessed in the Oregon country. This 
made the fourth claim to ownership. Mexico, 
which was a part of Spain at that time, in her 
northern possessions, laid claim to the same, and 
this was quieted by the treaty with Mexico in 1828. 
This made the fifth claim to ownership. It will 
thus be seen that the United States had but one 
competitor for title to Oregon, and that was Great 
Britain. 

I have thus in the briefest way recited the im- 
portant historical events relating to our title to the 
now valued country beyond ''the great stony moun- 
tains. ' ' No facts of American history are stranger 
or more interesting, and the reader must catch the 
spirit of that period to find interest, and give due 
credit to the pioneers of that distant land for their 
grand work of rescuing it from a foreign power. 

It is well to bear in mind that American states- 
men, who in 1 802-1 803 arranged for the purchase 
of the territory west of the Mississippi River from 
France, had but two objects in view: one was to 
get possession of the mouth of the Missouri River, 
upon a demand made by the commerce of the west- 
ern states; and the other was to get possession of 
the rich, alluvial bottoms of Louisiana for slave 
labor. It was those two elements combined which 
enabled President Jefferson to get the measure 



Brief Sketch of the Oregon Country 95 

through Congress, in spite of the united opposition 
of New England, which was opposed to expansion. 
It is also a notable fact, worthy of remembrance, 
that sixty years later, all the great states carved 
out of the Louisiana Territory, except two, were 
solidly massed behind the flag and the Union to 
crush human slavery. 

It reads like romance, but is true history, and 
caught in its spirit, shows an overruling Power 
dominating the nation's destiny. 

The great Louisiana purchase not only failed to 
make slavery strong, but it eventually, and within 
half a century, was one of the strong agents for 
slavery's destruction. 



CHAPTER VII 



Why Did the United States Dicker with England 
for Half a Century, before Asserting her Rights 
to Oregon? The Answer — American Statesmen 
had no Appreciation oj Oregon, and Determin- 
edly Opposed Expansion. 

IT is no pleasure for an American to call in 
question and criticise the wisdom and states- 
manship of the men of the first half of the 
nineteenth century. But history is made of stub- 
born facts. 

From 1792, the time of discovery of the Colum- 
bia River, up to 1845, the United States govern- 
ment never, by an official act in any way aided 
Oregon, or attempted to control it. Time and 
time again some statesman in Congress offered a 
resolution, or framed an act looking to that end, 
and upon several occasions one branch of Con- 
gress permitted the act to pass, simply to avoid 
discussion, knowing that it would fall dead in the 
other house. Thus, year by year our statesmen 
went on such record, as for their credit and wisdom 
it would be well if it could be obliterated from the 
records. They were men, brave and true; they 

96 



United States Wanted Oregon 97 

had guided the nation to an honorable place among 
the nations of the earth, but they were, after all, 
willing to stand still, and let well enough alone. 
They regarded their territory as already vaster and 
larger than would ever be peopled. The readers 
can best understand the canny sentiment of the 
period by a few quotations from speeches made in 
Congress from time to time when the Oregon ques- 
tion was brought before them. Senator Winthrop 
of Massachusetts, in one of his great speeches, said: 

"What do we want with Oregon? We will not need elbow 
room for a thousand years." 

Another senator, second to none in influence, 
Benton of Missouri, in a speech, while in Congress 
in 1825, said: 

"The ridge of the Rocky Mountains may be named as a 
convenient, natural, and everlasting boundary. Along this 
ridge the western limits of the Republic should be drawn, and 
the statue of the fabled god Terminus should be erected upon 
its highest peak, never to be thrown down." 

In justice to Benton, we may observe he later 
on was convinced of the unwisdom of the senti- 
ment, and became, with his co-worker. Senator 
Linn of Missouri, an ardent friend of Oregon. 
But his colleague, Senator Winthrop of Massachu- 
setts, as late as 1846, when the Oregon treaty was 
before the Senate, and when the question had 
reached almost a war stage, repeated the words of 



98 Whitman^s Ride 

Benton's speech of 1825, and commended it for its 
wisdom and statesmanship. 

General Jackson, who was a power in the 
nation's counsels in that day, in a letter to Presi- 
dent Monroe, concisely stated his opinion in these 
words: 

"It should be our policy to concentrate our population, 
and confine our [frontier to proper limits, until our country in 
those limits is filled with a dense population. It is denseness 
of population that gives strength and security to our frontier." 

That was a diplomatic and conservative opinion, 
which doubtless reflected the sentiment of the multi- 
tude. The Calhouns, the Websters, the Daytons, 
and a host of others were more pronounced, and 
less diplomatic. They pointedly hated the very 
name of Oregon, and did not propose to endanger 
the nation's safety or defile its garments by making 
it a part of the Union. 

To all that class, and I shall mention but few 
of them in illustration, Oregon was an aversion. 
The great Webster said: 

"Oregon is a vast worthless area, a region of savages, wild 
beasts, deserts of shifting sands, cactus, and prairie dogs. 
What can we ever hope to do with a coast of three thousand 
miles, rock bound, cheerless, and not a harbor on it. What 
use have we for such a country?" 

" Senator McDuffie of South Carolina, was fiery 
with his oratory, and can easily be understood. 
He said in one of his several speeches: 



United States Wanted Oregon 99 

"The whole of Oregon is not worth a pinch of snuff." 

Again he said: 

"As I understand it, there are seven hundred miles this 
side of the Rocky Mountains uninhabitable, where rain never 
falls, mountains wholly impassable except through gaps. 
What are you going to do in such a case? Can you apply 
steam? Have you estimated the cost of a railroad to the 
mouth of the Columbia? The wealth of the Indies would not 
build it. I wish the Rocky Mountains were an impassable 
barrier. If there was an embankment five feet high to be re- 
moved, I would not vote five dollars to remove it, and en- 
courage our people to go there." 

That Speech was delivered in Congress only a 
few months before Whitman's memorable ride to 
save Oregon. Senator Dayton of New Jersey was 
marked as an able man, and yet his knowledge of 
Oregon was as limited as that of Webster, Win- 
throp, or McDuffie. In one of his speeches he 
called ''Oregon a Sahara, except along the little 
streams and bottom lands!" 

We have in modern times had some eloquent 
opponents to expansion, but they were ''childlike 
and bland" when compared with the old statesmen 
of the first half of the nineteenth century, who 
easily saw ruin to the country by acknowledging 
practical ownership of that distant territory. 

The public press was not behindhand with 
statesmen in ridiculing Oregon. The Louisville 
Journal and the National Intelligencer, then the 
two most influential newspapers in the land, were 



lOO Whitman's Ride 



bitter. The Journal wrote, and the Intelligencer 

copied and approved: 

**Of all the countries upon the face of the earth, Oregon is 
the one least favored by heaven. It is the riddlings of crea- 
tion. It is almost as barren as Sahara, and quite as unhealthy 
as the Campana of Italy. Russia has her Siberia, and England 
her Botany Bay, and if the United States should ever need a 
country to which to banish her rogues and scoundrels, the 
utility of such a region as Oregon would be demonstrated. 
Until then, we are perfectly willing to leave this magnificent 
country to the Indians and trappers and buffalo-hunters that 
roam over its sand banks." 

One passing over that beautiful and fertile land, 
after only half a century and ten years have passed, 
can easily conceive how dense was the ignorance of 
the common people upon the subject, when a man, 
eminent in letters, and the wisest journalist of his 
day, George D. Prentice, would give expression to 
such sentiments. 

The English press if possible was even more 
pronounced, and used every argument to discourage 
emigration. The Hudson Bay Fur Company was 
owned and controlled by the titled nobility of Eng- 
land. It had made every owner rich by its wealth 
of furs. It was in full control of all the territory 
by the consent of the United States, and only 
desired ''to be let alone" and in peace to enjoy the 
monopoly. 

The London Examiner, in 1842, just when the 
United States was waking from its lethargy, wrote: 



United States Wanted Oregon loi 

"Ignorant Americans are disposed to quarrel over a coun- 
try, the whole of which in dispute not being worth, to either 
party, twenty thousand pounds." 

About the same time the Edinburgh Review 
wrote: 

"Only a small portion of the land is capable of cultivation. 
It is a case where the American people have been misled, as 
to soil and climate. In a few years all that gave life to the 
country, both the hunter and his prey, will be extinct, and their 
places supplied by a thin half-breed population, scattered along 
the fertile valleys, who will gradually degenerate into a bar- 
barism far more offensive than backwoodsmen." 

In view of the utterances of the American press 
and statesmen, we remain silent in any criticism of 
England. It was acting no dishonorable part 
in Oregon. They were simply using to their great 
profit a vast territory the United States owned, but 
did not want to be troubled with. They, it is true, 
knew more of its worth than did Americans, but as 
far as the Hudson Bay people were concerned, 
they did not covet immigration, even of their own 
kind, only enough to hold the balance of power, 
and keep themselves in readiness to organize the 
territory, and retain it under terms of the treaty 
of 1 8x8. They had great interests at stake. 

Modern writers have asserted over and over 
again that ''the United States was never in any 
danger of losing Oregon, and needed no Whitman 
and his missionaries to save it!" But they cannot 



I02 Whitman's Ride 



do away with the record which I have only tersely 
recited. 

A volume could be written, along the same 
line, to prove the utter lack of interest in that 
country. But if statesmen, in Congress and out, 
and the press had been silent, the single official act 
of the government, in signing the treaty of i8i8, 
giving entire control of the land to England (for 
the Hudson Bay Company represented England), 
would tell the whole story of the neglect of Oregon. 
When ever before or since has the United States 
made such a deal, giving by solemn treaty, a coun- 
try thirty times as large as Massachusetts, for a full 
twenty years and more, without a dollar of com- 
pensation, to a great foreign nation, and unre- 
sistingly seen American traders driven out or 
starved out of the entire country? Those making 
the charge of ''no danger of losing Oregon by the 
United States" would do well to explain this one 
actj which was official, even if they make light of the 
utterances of the men who refused, for more than 
fifty years, to legislate by a single act for Oregon. 
It is true the treaty said: 

"It should not be to the prejudice of either of the high 
contracting parties, the only object being to prevent disputes 
and differences among themselves!" 

Who does not see and acknowledge that the 
treaty was a virtual acknowledgment of England's 



United States Wanted Oregon 103 

ownership by ''discovery" as claimed at that time? 
These modern critics find no flaw in the title of the 
United States, they simply shout ''no danger" for 
no other conceivable purpose than to attempt to 
dishonor and disparage the heroic work of the mis- 
sionaries and pioneers of early Oregon, in which 
they have succeeded only too well. They were 
poor men, who made no claim for honors. The 
leading, heroic actor made no demands for his ser- 
vices, neither money nor official recognition. Our 
historians, until modern justice cried out in shame, 
have sought to bolster up the statesmen, lawmakers 
and molders of public opinion of that day, only 
giving sneers to a man who sacrificed ease, com- 
fort, home and life to patriotic Christian duty. 



CHAPTRR VIII 



The Conditions oj Orri^on in 1842. The A rrival oj 
a Large Parly oj Americans. The News They 
Bore. The Great Ride to Save Oregon. The 
Incidents oj Travel. Whitman Reaches Wash- 
ington. 

WE now rcacli a critical period in Oregon 
history, and are to study events crowded 
with exciting interest. Several new 
missions had been organiz.ed by the American 
Board, and were manned by a scholarly, heroic 
band of missionary workers. They were Christian 
men and women in the best sense of the term, and 
were there in answer to the savage's appeal made 
at St. Louis, to teach and read to them "the Book 
of Heaven." But at the same time, they were 
intensely patriotic American citizens. They had 
been given passports by the United States 
authorities before leaving the States; a copy of 
that given Dr. Gushing Eells is still in the posses- 
sion of his son, Myron Eells, now living in Washing- 
ton. It varied, it is true, from regular passports, 
but nevertheless was enough foreign to make its 
possessor understand he was destined to "a foreign 
104 



Conditions of Oregon in 1842 105 

land," and under the direction of "the Foreign 
Missionary Society." 

The missionaries often met in conference, and 
generally at Waiilatpui, that being central, hav- 
ing larger accommodations than other posts. 

Notwithstanding the courtesies and constant 
kindness personally received from Dr. McLoughlin, 
of the Hudson Bay Company, they were ill at ease. 
They had now been six years in Oregon, and real- 
ized its grand possibilities. Their bountiful crops 
of grains and fruits told them of the productive 
soil; the healthful climate, the great forests, the 
wild grand scenery, all emphasized its value. They 
were missionaries, far away from home, yet Amer- 
icans, and patriots, to see so fair a domain year by 
year slipping away from the Union, ground them to 
the quick. In their private correspondence to 
friends, and Dr. Parker, in his able book, had 
eucourged immigrants to brave the dangers of the 
journey. 

The heroic Methodist missionary, Rev. Jason 
Lee, made a trip across the plains to Washington 
and brought back with him several Americans. 
Despite all their efforts, Canadians and adherents 
of the Hudson Bay Company outnumbered them 
three to one. The missionaries and all others in 
Oregon knew that the meaning of the treaty of 18 18 
was that, whichever nation settled the country 



io6 Whitman's Ride 



would hold and own it. They knew it had been 
practically in possession of England for many years 
with the direct sanction of American authori- 
ties. They knew the low esteem in which 
Oregon was held by many American statesmen, 
but what could they do? Such were the conditions 
in 1842, when Elijah White, a former Indian agent 
of the government, reached Whitman's mission in 
the month of September. With him came one 
hundred and twenty-five American immigrants. 
He was an intelligent man, and had many in his 
company who were thoroughly posted upon Ameri- 
can affairs. They found Whitman an intensely 
interested listener and questioner. In this com- 
pany was a young lawyer, Amos L. Lovejoy, a 
most intelligent man, who, in after years, filled a 
large and honored place in Oregon history, and 
latterly shared with our hero the daring and danger 
of his great work. 

What was before Congress 

These men informed the Doctor that "the Ash- 
burton treaty, ' ' fixing the boundary line between 
the United States and Canada, which had run up 
against the Rocky Mountain and rested there for 
half a century, was under discussion between the 
two governments, and would probably come before 



Conditions of Oregon in 1842 107 

the United States Senate for final action during the 
session of 1 842-1 843. 

Whitman was a man of few words, and quick 
action. He pondered deeply. He felt that a 
climax was impending, and in the contest Oregon 
was to be lost or won for his country. I do not 
stop to argue whether it was simply the call of 
patriotism of the man as an American, or whether, 
like the men of old, ''he was called of God," but 
when we remember the perils to be met, the sacri- 
fices to be made, and none knew them better than 
Whitman, I cannot believe that so clear-headed a 
man would ever have entertained the idea, if he 
had not heard and obeyed a call higher and more 
commanding than that of man! 

He laid the matter before his wife, his chief 
counselor, that he fondly loved and cherished. 
The two were as one. They had met dangers and 
hardships, sacrifices and sorrows, together for seven 
years. This meant separation and dangers un- 
known to both for a whole year, during which not 
a line or a word could pass between them to tell of 
the fate of the other. Words would fail to express 
or picture that September conference in the wilds 
of Oregon if it had ever been written. But Nar- 
cissa Whitman was the same heroic woman who 
years before sacrificed the ease of civilized life and 
rode on horseback across the dreary plains, climbed 



io8 Whitman's Ride 



mountains, and swam rivers, endured hunger at the 
call of duty! She was an ideal missionary, and 
the patriotic wife of a missionary who, in song and 
prayer, had dedicated the whole fair land to God 
and the Union upon that memorable anniversary 
upon the Rockies in 1836, and she answered, 
*'Go!" 

The Doctor at once sent messengers to the 
several missionary stations, summioning them to an 
immediate council at Waiilatpui for important busi- 
ness. They all responded promptly, glad to come 
in contact with the many new guests from the 
States, and hear words from home, as well as to 
learn the meaning of this sudden and unusual call 
for conference. Of this meeting, and what was 
said and done, we have more complete reports, 
from the written words of Dr. Eells, Dr. Spalding, 
and other members. When assembled Dr. Whit- 
man lost no time in explaining his call, and that it 
was to obtain leave of absence from the local con- 
ference for one year, to visit Washington and the 
States! The proposition was astounding to his 
brethren, and caused wide discussion. While they 
were, in the main, in full sympathy with Whitman, 
they well knew the prejudices of the rulers of the 
American Board against ministers ** dabbling in 
politics,'* or concerning themselves with questions 
of state. A second important question was dis- 



Conditions of Oregon in 1842 109 

cussed, viz.: "If it became known to the ruling 
powers in Oregon, upon which all the missions were 
wholly dependent, would it not greatly embarrass 
if not destroy them all?" They had the kindliest 
feeling for Dr. McLoughlin for his eminent ser- 
vices rendered, but they well knew the Hudson 
Bay Company was there for business, and that it 
had starved out every American trader who had 
intruded upon their domain, even the wealthy John 
Jacob Astor was permitted only one year in Oregon, 
although he came with the direct sanction of the 
American government. The company owned all 
the ships which came and went each year to Hawaii 
and London, bearing their letters and bringing all 
the supplies they received from civilization. 
Would the good Dr. McLoughlin under such con- 
ditions be able to shield and protect them.'* 
(Further along it will appear that he did, and was 
driven from his great office for his aid to the mis- 
sionaries.) 

A third reason given was the immensity of the 
danger of such a journey in mid-winter — was like, 
as one expressed it, ''Going down into the valley 
and shadow of death to attempt it. ' ' 

A fourth objection was that while the local 
board was the adviser in regard to all local affairs 
of the missions, the home board at Boston required 
a permit officially signed for any missionary to 



no Whitman's Ride 



separate himself from his work. All these ques- 
tions were canvassed pro and con. The men of 
that conference were as brothers joined in the one 
great work, and the counsels given were free and 
earnest. 

Dr. Whitman was mainly a silent listener. 
When the dangers of his trip were pointed out, 
and he was asked to ''wait until spring," his sen- 
tentious reply was, "I must go now!" In reply to 
the objection that he would violate the rules of the 
Board, Dr. Eells says: 

"Dr. Whitman was so fixed in his purpose that he declared 
he would make the attempt even if he had to withdraw from 
the mission, remarking, 'I am not expatriated by becoming a 
missionary.' " 

Continuing, says Dr. Eells: 

"The idea of his withdrawal could not be entertained. 
Therefore, to retain him in the mission, a vote to approve his 
making the perilous journey prevailed." 

There has been a contention made by persons 
ignorant of the facts, that "the sole purpose of 
Whitman's ride was to save his mission from being 
closed." It is a silly charge, and unworthy of 
refutation, except to state the facts. The immi- 
grants in Oregon were curious to know the cause 
of such a journey, and the people of the Hudson 
Bay Company doubtless made inquiry, but it was 
enough for them all to know that ''Whitman had 



Conditions of Oregon in 1 842 1 1 1 

business with the American Board, ' ' and let it go 
at that. The missionaries were under no obHga- 
tions to make known facts detrimental to all their 
interests, and when the proper time came, all the 
actors told the whole truth in regard to it. The 
silence of the missionaries, which was imperative 
for their own safety, doubtless misled many. 
Whitman's object was definite and clear. 
Dr. Spalding, explaining years after, says: 

"The last words Whitman spoke to me as he mounted his 
horse for the long journey, were: 'My life is of little worth if 
I can save this country to the American people." 

The time fixed for his departure by the Board 
was October 5th, and all set about writing volumi- 
nous letters, for it was seldom they had such oppor- 
tunity. There was much talk and counsel as to a 
companion and helper of the Doctor on his way. 
A score of his trusted Indians would have been 
glad of the opportunity. 

The Doctor pondered over the matter, and 
made up his mind, and approached General Love- 
joy, and explained to him the urgency of the case 
that compelled him to go, and asked the blunt 
question, ''Will you go with me?" He was de- 
lighted with the prompt response, ''Yes!" 

Mrs. Whitman was delighted that ''a Christian 
gentleman like General Lovejoy would bear her 
husband company, and he would not be left alone 



112 Whitman's Ride 



to Indians and guides on the long and dreary way. ' ' 
All was now hurry and preparation, and the few 
things the good wife could find from her stores 
were gathered and packed. On the 2d of October, 
for a double purpose of visiting a sick man and 
securing some needed stores, the Doctor rode to 
the fort, and while there heard news of an incom- 
ing colony of immigrants from Canada. As he 
galloped home to the mission, he saw increasing 
danger, and resolved there should be no delay. 

It was a great occasion, that beautiful October 
morning at Waiilatpui. A number of Indians 
were to go with the party to make sure they got 
on the new trail to Fort Hall, much shorter and 
easier than that traversed by the missionaries in 
1836. 

There were a large number of immigrants 
around Waiilatpui, and they with many Indians, 
without knowing the real objects of the expedition, 
were there to see. One can easily believe that it 
was a great event in the wilderness country. The 
ever-faithful Indian Istikus was there as leader of 
the Indians; as they sat mounted upon their ponies, 
they added picturesqueness to the group. 

The sun was just gilding the treetops along the 
Walla Walla as it wended its swift and winding 
way like a silver thread in the distance. The last 
adieu had been said, and the Doctor emerged 



Conditions of Oregon in 1842 113 

from his room and mounted his horse. The faith- 
ful old dog, which had run by the side of his master 
in hundreds of journeys along blind trails, was to be 
permitted to accompany them, barked impatiently. 

They were off, an imposing little cavalcade with 
Whitman and General Lovejoy in the lead, the 
Indians led by old Istikus following, the pack mules 
in the rear, while the old dog ran barking up and 
down the line as if he was responsible commander 
of the entire outfit. 

I have many times in the years since stood 
upon the ground of this historic scene, and tried to 
picture it in my mind, in the full grandeur of its 
intentions and achievements. I have since marched 
with great armies with music and banners, bright 
equipments, guns gleaming in the sunlight and 
their pageantry was imposing, but I most like to 
catch the spirit of the history they were all mak- 
ing, and it has seemed as if this little band in 
the wilderness, made up of Christian and savage 
life was, even in its simplicity, more notably an 
expression of God's leadings, when I view them in 
the light of the great events which followed. 

Nor can the reader forget to honor the heroic 
little Christian American woman, who looking 
through her tear-dimmed eyes, as she waved fare- 
wells to her departing husband until the hills away 
toward the Blue Mountains hid him from view. 



114 Whitman's Ride 

After going to her silent and deserted room, she 
wrote : 

"I look from my window and see the grave of our dear 
child, surely God will take care of my noble husband and return 
him to me!" 

Love is the greatest word in the Enghsh lan- 
guage, and when united to Faith, it lifts the heaviest 
burdens of life. Who can measure the power of 
the prayers of one faithful, trusting soul, in guid- 
ing that heroic little band over the dangers of their 
unknown way? Possibly some reader may scoff at 
such sentiment, but unnumbered instances have 
proved that there comes an emergency in every 
human life, when the soul, if reason is not clouded, 
cries out in prayer to a Being higher than itself. 

The cavalcade is made up of rapid riders. The 
favorite gait of Cayuse horses is a lope, and small 
as they are, carry a heavy man fifty and sixty miles 
per day. But as the journey was to be a long 
one, they selected the finest horses to be found, 
only those thoroughly broken and tested. They 
knew the value of caring for their animals in the 
earlier stages, and lessened their speed. 

The first four hundred and fifty m.iles to Fort 
Hall was made in eleven days. The Indians, 
except two to look after the animals, had returned 
to Waiilatpui. 

At Fort Hall their old friend. Captain Grant, 
was still in command, and when he learned of the 



Conditions of Oregon in 1842 115 

proposed journey to the States, openly protested 
that "it was madness to attempt it at this season 
of the year. ' * Undoubtedly Captain Grant this time 
was right, even if Whitman had proved him, to his 
chagrin, wrong about the wagon in 1836. "It so 
happened" that a company of scouts just then 
reached the fort, and confirmed all Captain Grant 
had said, and more. They reported that the snow 
in many of the canons was from ten to twenty feet 
deep, and badly drifting. The Silent Man listened, 
and sat thinking. He knew those mountains and 
canons, and could readily believe the statement of 
the scouts, and the old Captain, who was an admirer 
of Whitman, felt certain that he would give up his 
dangerous expedition and return home. But he 
did not yet know his man. 

The Old Map 

Whitman was face to face with a new problem. 
As he prayed and pondered, a new inspiration came 
to him. We have no reason to believe that such 
an idea had occurred to the missionaries, when dis- 
cussing the dangers of the journey by the route 
they knew. We have no knowledge that even 
Whitman had ever before studied the possibilities 
of a new and undiscovered way to the States. 

The old trappers and scouts sat around the stove 
swapping stories of bears, mountain - lions, of 
Indians, and wonderful escapes. Whitman, upon 



Ii6 Whitman's Ride 



looking up, discovered an old United States map 
hanging upon the wall. It at once attracted his 
attention, and he brought it to the light and began 
to study. It had the outlines of all the great 
West as far as geographers of that day knew and 
understood. The ranges of the mountains were 
nearly accurately pictured. "The great Stony," 
the Sierra and Coast ranges, the Shasta, and Wind 
River, and the possible passes were marked, so as 
to give some idea of the lay of the land. 

The thought came to him, why not strike west 
and south and get between the great ranges so as 
to avoid the earlier snows of winter.'* He found 
marked upon the map Fort Uintah, an old aban- 
doned Spanish fort, which came into possession of 
the United States in 1818, by the Florida treaty. 
He then began inquiry among the old mountaineers 
and found a man who knew the blind trail to Uintah, 
located in what is now northern Utah. He 
learned also there was an abandoned trail from 
that point southward. The old scout was ready to 
pilot them to Uintah, and was at once engaged. 
At break of day Whitman and Love joy were in 
their saddles en route, led by the guide, not home- 
ward, but upon a voyage of discovery of the un- 
known way. The route led south through what is 
now Idaho, thence through Utah leaving Great Salt 
Lake to the right. General Lovejoy gives very 



Conditions of Oregon in 1842 117 

indistinct notes, not sufficiently clear to accurately 
verify locations. He kept a record of daily events, 
but Whitman never a line. Lovejoy writes: 

"From Fort Hall to Uintah we met with terribly severe 
weather. The deep snow caused us to lose much time. At 
Uintah we took a new guide to Fort Uncompagra in old Span- 
ish territory, which place we safely reached. There we hired 
a new guide, and while passing over a high mountain on the 
trail toward Grand River, we encountered a terrible snow 
storm which compelled us to seek shelter in a deep, dark 
canon. We made several attempts to pass on, but were driven 
back, and detained ten days. We finally got well upon the 
mountain again, when we met with a violent storm of snow and 
wind, which almost blinded us, maddened the animals, and 
made them nearly unmanageable. Finally the guide stopped 
and said, 'I am lost and can lead you no farther * In this dire 
dilemma, adds General Lovejoy, Dr. Whitman got off his 
horse, and kneeling in the snow, committed his little company, 
his loved wife, his work, and his Oregon to the Infinite One 
for guidance and protection. The lead pack mule being left 
to himself by the guide pricked up his long ears, turning them 
this way and that, and began plunging through the snowdrifts. 
The Mexican guide called out, 'Follow this old mule, he will 
find the camp if he lives long enough to reach it.' " 

And he did lead them to the still burning fire 
they had left in the morning in the deep, dark 
canon. The instinct of dumb animals is a won- 
derful gift, superior to that of wise men. The 
writer has, twice in his life, been rescued by his 
horse when hopelessly lost. One instance I will 
recite, simply to impress a lesson of kindness upon 
my young readers for dumb animal life. Two of 



1 1 8 Whitman*s Ride 



us, in a large hunting party in Arkansas, got sepa- 
rated from the rest, and found ourselves in the 
back-water of the Mississippi River, which was 
many miles away. My companion was an old 
woodsman, and pretended to know his direction. 
He assured me "We will come out all right." 
He led on and on for hours, the water grow- 
ing constantly deeper. I finally called to him and 
pointed to the water-mark on the trees as high as 
our heads as we sat on our horses. I said to him: 
' * You are lost, now I am going to trust to my horse 
to lead me from danger." He insisted he knew 
the way, but followed. My horse was a sleepy old 
fellow, and I gave him a little cut with a whip to 
wake him up, then gave him a loose rein to go as 
he pleased. He wound around fallen trees and 
brush until he got his direction, then turning nearly 
at a right angle, struck a line like a surveyor, and 
in two hours we were upon dry land and in camp. 
But to our story. They were safely in camp, 
by a roaring log fire, the deep canon protecting 
them from the raging winds. As they discussed 
with thankful hearts the perils of the day, from 
which they had been rescued, they made plans for 
to-morrow, but here the guide spoke up and said, 
"I go back, I cannot take you over this moun- 
tain." General Lovejoy says, "Whitman talked 
and plead with the guide until a late hour, but 




LOST IN THE ROCKIES. 



Conditions of Oregon in 1842 119 

could not change his mind. To any except such a 
character as Whitman, the situation would have 
been indeed hopeless; but before he slept his 
plans were made. He said to General Lovejoy: 
''You stay here in the canon and recuperate the 
stock, and I will return to the fort and get a new 
guide. At the first streak of dawn the men were 
mounted and on their way. It was a cheerless 
wait for Lovejoy, but he had the companionship of 
his dog, and he busied himself in cutting bunch 
grass and tender twigs for the animals and bringing 
in logs for his fire. The General says, ''Whitman 
was gone just one week, when the old dog heard 
his distant halloo and answered it with a rejoicing 
bark." He and his new guide, hungry and tired, 
were soon enjoying the bright log fire, always the 
crowning comfort of camp-life. 

I trust that my readers may all live to have a 
camp-fire experience. Permit me to tell you of 
one great camp-fire, near the summit of the 
Sierras, which lives in the memory after nearly 
fifty years of busy life. Our pack-train had been 
toiling up the mountain, hoping for a resting-place, 
when our scouts came and reported. Following 
them along winding paths which grizzlies and 
Indians had made, around the rugged rocks, we 
reached a beautiful little valley covered with luxuri- 
ant grass. We picketed our tired animals in the 



I20 Whitman's Ride 



meadow, built a great fire of cedar logs against a 
marble wall straight up for a thousand feet, sang 
songs, sounded the bugle, and listened to the 
scores of echoes from the mountain peaks. But 
we were young and ready to enjoy nature's grand 
scenes. — Nowhere are they grander than in our 
own Western mountains. 

But our heroic snow-bound travelers were bur- 
dened with far too much anxiety to enjoy nature 
in her magnificent winter adornment. Their eyes 
were not upon the lofty mountain peaks, but far 
along unknown trails towards the nation's capital. 
After they had succeeded in passing the well-nigh 
impassable mountains, they struck a more level 
country with sheltered valleys having a bounti- 
ful supply of wood and good water. I have 
often asked myself, when pondering over these 
events, was it a simple accident that the old scouts 
reached Fort Hall that October night and turned 
Whitman and Lovejoy a thousand miles off their 
direct route? That year the snow lay unusually 
deep all over the great plains. Had they started 
and been able to have crossed the Rockies, they 
would have met snow-covered, treeless plains, and 
for weeks at a time would have had to go with- 
out fires, having to depend upon the Bois de vache 
for fuel, which, covered deep with the snow, would 
have been impossible to find. This, with the lack 



Conditions of Oregon in 1842 121 

of grass for the animals, would have made the route, 
not only impracticable, but nearly impossible. The 
scout and the old map seemed insignificant events, 
but yet how often they and their kind loom up in 
grand proportions. They may be marked by the 
thoughtless as mere happenings, but it is not a tax 
upon reason to believe that the soul attuned to 
listen and receive ever has a guidance higher than 
the wisdom of men. 

This detention in the canon and along other 
parts of the route caused the scant supplies to 
run lower. The bears were holed up in their winter 
quarters, they could have found deer and elk, 
had they stopped and hunted; but Whitman's 
maxim was forever, "travel, travel." He led 
upon the trail from morning until night, with eyes 
ever to the front. General Lovejoy tells us they 
finally reached a great emergency, and the first 
animal sacrificed to keep them from starving was 
the faithful old dog. I doubt not, that some of 
my you»g readers will stop to criticize so noble a 
man as Whitman for having any part in such an 
act, and the writer would sympathize with the senti- 
ment. The dog is man's closest friend, that clings 
to him when all others forsake him. Seventy-four 
years ago, when the author's parents came to the 
Western wilderness across the Alleghanies, we had 
a great dog named Watch. He kept guard over us 



122 Whitman's Ride 



children as we rambled through the woods and 
along the way, as if he were wholly responsible for 
our safety. He grew old and nearly helpless. A 
conference was held among the older members, 
and it was thought merciful to put him out of his 
obvious misery, and an old friend of the family was 
selected for the task. I believe that after all three- 
quarters of a century of years the children, who 
loved the old dog, never quite forgave his exe- 
cutioner. 

General Lovejoy tells us none of the particulars, 
but it is reasonable to suppose that Whitman was 
not consulted at all in the matter, and likely knew 
nothing of it until long after. The second animal 
used for food was one of the pack mules. They 
knew if they could live until they reached Taos, in 
New Mexico, they could secure supplies, and 
trade their broken-down stock for fresh animals. 
So they made forced marches. 

I have indulged in only enough description of 
locality as to keep in touch with the travelers, and 
to note historic events. To-day the same scenes 
they viewed are the wonderlands of thousands of 
tourists each year. 

They Reach Grand River 
A little incident at Grand River reveals Marcus 
Whitman's indomitable spirit. It is a deep, dan- 
gerous, treacherous river, and many an immigrant 



Conditions of Oregon in 1842 123 

has lost his life in the Grand or the Green river. 
The water is icy cold, even in mid-summer. 

When the bold group of travelers stood on the 
bank they found a stream six hundred feet wide, 
two hundred feet on each side ice, and two hundred 
in the middle rolled the rapid torrent. The guide 
shook his head and said, **It is impossible! We 
cannot cross." Whitman replied, ''We must 
cross, and now." He got down from his horse, 
cut a strong cotton wood pole about eight feet 
long. Mounting his horse, he put the pole upon 
his shoulder, and said, ''Now push us in." The 
guide and the General skated them to the brink, 
and "horse and rider," says the General, "entirely 
disappeared, coming to the surface some distance 
below. ' ' The horse soon found footing and made 
for the shore, where Whitman broke the ice with his 
pole, and helped his horse to the firm ice." He 
soon had a rousing fire from the logs and drift- 
wood. Those conversant with animal habits know 
that when the lead animal has passed any point, 
however dangerous, the rest are eager to follow. 
The General and guide broke the ice for a road- 
way to the water, and each seizing a tail, were 
towed safely to the farther shore. 

They Reach Santa F^ 

Upon reaching Santa Fe, in New Mexico, they 
felt quite in touch with civilization. They would 



124 Whitman's Ride 

no longer have to grope in the dark, along doubt- 
ful and unknown trails, but it all the more made 
Whitman anxious to push forward. They paused 
only long enough to inquire for news from the 
States, and to purchase a few needed supplies. It 
was still a long journey, and as it proved, more 
perilous to life than any portion they had already 
passed. Their next point was Bent's Fort on the 
head waters of the Arkansas River, now in Colo- 
rado. It was a cheerless, dreary plains journey, 
with none of the magnificent scenery of the moun- 
tain route to keep them company. Water was 
often scarce, as well as wood, except along the 
small streams. The intensely cold winter and 
deep snows had made the big gray wolves a menace 
to life of men and beasts. One very cold night 
they reached a little river which had no wood on 
the side they camped, but was plentiful on the 
opposite bank. Whitman seized his ax, but found 
the ice would break under his feet. He then lay 
flat upon the ice, wormed himself across, skated a 
bountiful supply across the glossy surface, and then 
returned in safety as he had gone. 

Unfortunately, one of his heavy blows split his 
ax-handle. When he returned to his tent, he took a 
piece of rawhide, wrapped the spliced pieces care- 
fully, and threw it down at the door of the tent. 
In the morning it was discovered that some thiev- 
ing wolf attracted by the rawhide had stolen the 



Conditions of Oregon in 1842 1-25 

implement, and they never saw it again. Had this 
occurred two months before, it would have been 
regarded as an irreparable disaster. 

Four days before reaching Bent's Fort they 
met Colonel Bent's son with a pack-train en route 
to El Paso. He informed them that in two days 
a company of fifty packers would leave the fort for 
St. Louis, and that there would not be another until 
towards spring. 

He told them that it would be impossible for 
them with pack animals to reach the fort before 
the departure of the company. Whitman was at 
once aroused by the information. He proposed 
that he should take his blankets and two days' pro- 
vision, make a forced march, and catch the convoy, 
while General Lovejoy and the guide could bring 
on the pack animals and remain at the fort, recuper- 
ate the stock, and meet him on the Missouri border 
in the spring. This was agreed to, and Whitman 
started on his lonely ride to Bent's. General 
Lovejoy and the guide moved on leisurely, reach- 
ing Bent's Fort four days later. They were as- 
tonished and alarmed when told that the Doctor 
had not arrived. 

Whitman is Lost 
General Lovejoy stated the whole case to 
Colonel Bent, who was at once aroused to action. 
He started runners after the company, ordering 



26 Whitman's Ride 



them to go into camp on the Cottonwood, and await 
further commands. 

"He sent out his best scouts in the search. Myself, guide, 
and one of the scouts passed up the banks of the Arkansas for 
one hundred miles, knowing if Whitman was alive he would 
make for the river. Every night our camp would be sur- 
rounded by hungry, gaunt, gray wolves, which as they were 
shot down would be torn in pieces and devoured by their 
fellows." 

This gave them great uneasiness about Whit- 
man, alone and without a shelter. They encountered 
some Indians who told them they had met a white 
man two days before who was hunting for Bent's 
Fort, and they had pointed out the way to him. They, 
in all haste, retraced their steps, along the way the 
Indians directed, and in an hour after they reached 
the fort Whitman came in greatly fatigued, and 
well-nigh despairing. But wearied as he was, he 
was deeply touched with Colonel Bent's kindness 
and thoughtfulness, and was buoyed up with new 
heart and hope that after all the hardships of the 
long journey he was yet able to prosecute it to 
the end. In the early morning he was in the sad- 
dle upon a fresh horse, with a good guide, and 
ready to ride forty miles before night to the camp 
on the Cottonwood, with credentials which would 
give them safe convoy to St. Louis. General 
Love joy, the guide, and all the stock remained 
until the next convoy was sent out in the spring, 



Conditions of Oregon in 1842 127 

and found Whitman upon the Missouri border. In 
that early day the route from Bent's Fort to St. 
Louis was invested by bands of outlaws, as well as 
savage wild beasts, so that an escort of well-armed 
men was a necessity for all travelers. Thus a 
good Providence seemed from the outset to have 
guided the little band through all its perils in safety. 

They Reach St. Louis 

Dr. Barrows, in his interesting book, ** Oregon, 

the Struggle for Possession," says: 

"Upon the arrival of Whitman in St. Louis, it was my good 
fortune that he should be quartered as a guest under the same 
roof, and at the same table. Trappers and traders all eagerly 
asked questions, and he answered all courteously. He in turn 
asked about Congress ; whether the Ashburton treaty had been 
passed by the Senate; and whether it covered the Northwest- 
ern Territory? He then learned, for the first time, that the 
Ashburton treaty had been signed, even before he left Oregon, 
and was confirmed by the Senate about the time he was lost 
and floundering in the snow upon the mountains." 

He was eager to learn whether the Oregon 

question was still pending, and greatly relieved 

when told that the treaty only covered a little strip 

of twelve thousand acres, up in Maine, and that 

Oregon was left untouched in its boundaries. 

Dr. Barrows continues: 

"Marcus Whitman once seen, and in one's family circle, 
telling of his business, for he apparently had but one, was a 
man not to be forgotten by the writer. He was of medium 
height, more compact than spare, a stout shoulder, and a large 



128 Whitman's Ride 



head covered with iron-gray hair. He carried himself awk- 
wardly. He seemed built as a man for whom more stock had 
been furnished than used systematically and gracefully. He 
was not quick in motion or speech, and no trace^of a fanatic, 
but he was a profound enthusiast. He wore coarse, fur gar- 
ments, with buckskin breeches. He had a buffalo overcoat 
with a head hood for emergencies, with fur leggins and foot 
moccasins. If my memory is not at fault, his entire dress 
when on the street did not show an inch of woven fabric." 

We copy thus fully Dr. Barrows 's description of 
Whitman and his dress, and it agrees with other 
descriptions less complete, as we trace him to Cin- 
cinnati, and again to the door of his old cherished 
friend. Dr. Parker, and have the testimony of his 
son. Professor Parker, who opened the door of his 
father's home to admit the guest in strange cos- 
tume. Whitman had little confidence in his own 
power of oratory, and was even timid, while 
brave. He knew the persuasive eloquence of his 
old associate, and his enthusiasm for Oregon, and 
he had hoped and expected to have his help to 
plead for Oregon in Washington. But the Doctor 
was confined to his room by ill health, and it was 
impossible for him to undertake the journey. Glad 
again to meet his old friend, and sorrowing that he 
was not to have his aid in this critical time, he 
resumed his way, and reaching Washington, ended 
one of the most memorable trans-continental jour- 
neys ever recorded. 



CHAPTER IX 



Whitman in Washington, His Conference with 
President Tyler and Secretary Webster and the 
Secretary of War. Visits New York and the 
American Board, Boston. His Return to the 
Frontier and to Oregon. 

THE exact date of Whitman's arrival at the 
national capital can be determined only from 
letters, but was probably on March 3, 
1843, the day before the close of Congress, when, 
as usual, there was hurry and confusion. But it 
matters little for our purposes, for we have seen 
that the "Oregon boundary question had been up, '* 
and as usual had been ignored, and only the dis- 
puted lines upon a few thousand acres up in Maine 
had been adjudicated, while the Oregon boundary 
line was left in its old place, *'up against the 
Rocky Mountains, ' ' as Senator Benton expressed 
it, ''the natural, convenient, and everlasting boun- 
dary of the United States!" So Whitman had 
only to meet the President and his officials and 
individual members to press the claims of Oregon. 
Washington in that day was not the beautiful 
city now seen, and its manners and customs were 

I2g 



ijo Whitman's Ride 

wholly different. It was before the day of enter- 
prising newspaper work. McCullough and Hal- 
stead had not then introduced the modern methods 
of *'the interview" in daily journals, or we should 
not now have to depend upon meager details and 
verbal messages to tell of this thrilling episode in 
American history. But it requires no imagination 
to believe that this heroic pioneer, dressed in 
the garb of the plains, attracted full attention. No 
man better knew the opinions of statesmen regard- 
ing Oregon, and we may well believe he felt, 
modest man as he was, appalled at the magnitude 
of the work before him. But with such a man we 
can believe there was no loitering for preparation. 
Fortunately the Secretary of War was an old school 
fellow of Whitman's and arranged for a speedy 
conference with the President and his Secretary of 
State, Webster, the latter the well-known active 
enemy of Oregon. Nothing is more discouraging 
to a writer than just such an occasion when giants 
meet in combat, and to be unable to report the 
words and acts of the actors, except from scrappy 
notes and verbal reports. Whitman never left 
any written record of that great discussion, for he 
never wrote a note in his life for the purpose of 
exalting himself in public estimation. 

For the story of the great ride we are wholly 
dependent upon General Lovejoy's notes and utter- 



Whitman in Washington 131 

ances. And upon the return journey to Oregon, 
and during the long rides, the General says, 
"Whitman told me over and over all that was said 
and done," in that notable conference at Washing- 
ton. Along the same lines we have the testimony 
of a score of his associates and co-workers in Ore- 
gon, to whom he was in duty bound to make full 
report, for they were parties in interest. So from 
such sources we glean our facts, and in their true 
spirit and meaning can rest upon them with 
much confidence, even if not so satisfactory, as if 
written down at the time. 

The characters are before us, they had met in 
consultation — Marcus Whitman, the man with 
frosted hands and feet, dressed in furs and buck- 
skin, who had so loved his country that he had 
braved the winter storms, and over unknown ways, 
without pay or hoped-for honors or rewards, had 
come four thousand five hundred miles to plead for 
Oregon to be placed under the flag. There was 
the President, the nation's chief; John Tyler, digni- 
fied, clear-eyed, honest, earnest, and as he proved, 
sympathetic and anxious to do his whole duty to 
the nation; and there was Daniel Webster, known 
the nation over as "the Great Orator," and "the 
brainy, far-seeing statesman, ' ' who was in this case 
all out of sympathy with Oregon. He had re- 
peatedly marked its "worthlessness"; he was in 



132 Whitman's Ride 

full accord with those who had declared *'it 
would endanger the republic," "was nearer Asia 
than the United States, ' ' and, we may add, that it 
was fully stated, he was at that very time actively 
negotiating the trade of Oregon for the New- 
foundland fishing banks. 

Such, tersely, is a vague pen-picture of three 
men who met and made history in the executive 
chamber, noonday, the 5th of March, 1843! The 
picture is worthy of the skilled brush of some 
master artist, instead of the poor words of the 
writer. It matters not if their work failed to be 
conclusive, it was but forging a link in the golden 
chain of the nation's grandeur, which had it been 
severed, no imagination can measure the calamity 
that would have resulted. • 

It is the pride of the whole loyal people that the 
humblest citizen with something important to say 
may have audience with the nation's chief official. 
President John Tyler was no exception, and when 
notified of Whitman's wishes by Secretary of War 
Porter, he arranged to give him audience without 
delay. The President was, every day and hour, 
importuned to meet men, who came to beg for 
office or honors or emoluments of some kind, but 
as he learned from Secretary Porter, this man 
from Oregon was not of that kind he was curi- 
ously anxious to meet him. As we have stated. 



Whitman in Washington 133 

we make no effort to report speeches. It is 
well known that *'the Silent Man" when aroused 
was strong and eloquent. Upon that long journey, 
with the weight and importance of his mission 
pressing upon him, my readers can well believe 
that Whitman's words were strong and true and 
impressive. As he told it to his friends, he dwelt 
upon the marvelous fertility of the soil, and the 
great crops of grain and fruits his fields and gar- 
dens and orchards had produced for six years; how 
stock ranged the pastures, fat the year round, with- 
out protection or feed from barns. He told of the 
magnificent forests, not equaled in other portions 
of the world, of the undoubted mineral riches in 
mountains, of the pure water in springs, flowing 
rivers navigable for the greatest ships, and of the 
inviting, balmy, healthful climate. Who could 
describe better than Whitman the grandeur of the 
Oregon country, destined, as he hoped, ''for millions 
of American people!" It was then that the keen 
Webster made the remark, but ' ' Doctor, how can you 
ever make a wagon-road for American immigration 
to Oregon.?" and received the prompt reply, ''There, 
Mr. Secretary, you have been deceived and mis- 
informed. There is a wagon-road to Oregon now, 
and I made it and took a wagon over it six years 
ago, and it is there to-day!" That is the triumph 
of the old wagon turned into a cart with its front 



134 Whitman's Ride 

wheels lashed to its sides. The patient, good little 
wife, in the years before, was sorrowing over the 
labors of her husband in his hard work, and 
mourned through many pages of her diary, as we 
have seen, over the folly of hauling along ''the old 
wagon. ' ' She was not permitted to look into the 
future and hear how the Indian boys' ''Old Click- 
Click - Clackety - Clackety" would strike dumb 
the nation's greatest orator. Nor is it at all 
likely that Whitman himself ever dreamed of 
such results. He simply obeyed a silent voice 
within, as was his rule of life, and old "Click," 
amid trials and perils never half told, rolled on, and 
made history. 

Whitman referred also to the current rumors, of 
the purpose of "trading Oregon for the Newfound- 
land fishing banks," and said, "Mr. President, 
you had far better trade all New England than 
Oregon for the fishing banks!" This was a hard 
blow at the great secretary, who was as much 
wrapped up in New England as New England was 
in him. He referred to the treaty of 1818-1828, 
and "its understood meaning in Oregon, that which- 
ever of the two nations settled Oregon should own 
and hold it"; he said, all I ask is, that you make 
no barter of Oregon until we can settle loyal Ameri- 
cans there in numbers sufficient to hold that which 
is their own. I hope to help lead such a band this 



Whitman in Washington 135 

summer, a group already gathering upon the Mis- 
souri, worthy of your consideration and protection. 
I do not here pretend to give the exact words of 
Whitman, for reasons stated, but they are truthful 
to the spirit, as verified by scores of men, to whom 
all the scenes were related, and whose veracity 
cannot be doubted. Dr. Spalding says: 

"Whitman concluded his address by saying, 'Mr. President, 
all that remains for me to say is, to ask, that you will not barter 
any of Oregon or allow English interference, until I can lead a 
band of stalwart American settlers across the plains, which I 
hope and expect to do.' To this President Tyler, deeply 
impressed, promptly and positively replied, *Dr. Whitman, 
your long ride and frosted limbs speak of your courage and 
patriotism, and your missionary credentials are good vouchers 
for your character,' and he unhesitatingly granted his simple 
requests." 

Whitman then held a long conference with the 
Secretary of War, and agreed that he at an early a 
date as possible would prepare an act which could 
be laid before Congress, covering the important 
points in the territorial organization of Oregon, and 
also a second article upon the strategic points 
along the immigrant route, where forts, rest- 
ing places and protection could be vouchsafed. 
Both these important documents were written by 
Whitman during the summer, and are to be found 
in the archives of the war department in Washing- 
ton, and can be read in the Appendix to my larger 
work, ''How Marcus Whitman Saved Oregon." 



136 Whitman's Ride 

He held conference with many members of Con- 
gress, and felt that his work at the national capital 
was ended. 

Whitman was not a man to loiter, and we next 
hear of him closeted with the staunch friend of 
Oregon, Horace Greeley of the New York Tribune. 
Greeley knew and admired a heroic character, and 
he highly complimented Whitman and his work in 
the Tribune. He proceeded to Boston to report 
to the American Board, to receive any reprimand 
for violation of rules and to transact minor affairs 
of the missions in Oregon. The enemies of Whit- 
man have again and again gone over the old records 
of the American Board to find some severe rebuke 
to the man who "dabbled in politics." But if 
any rebuke was offered, it was careful to make 
no record of it. But it may be said the governors 
of the American Board evidently failed to compre- 
hend in their anxiety to keep clear of all complica- 
tions between 'Xhurch and State," that they were 
dealing with an inspired man, who had rendered 
the greatest possible service to the nation and to 
Protestant Christianity. They did another good 
act, either through pride for one of their mission- 
aries or from generosity they sent him to a tailor 
shop for a complete suit of cloth clothes, which his 
own slim pocket-book could not afford. It took 
the American Boaid just fifty years from the date 



Whitman in Washington 137 

of his death to see that the man in furs and 
leather breeches from Oregon, who stood humbly 
before them upon that occasion, was one of the 
grandest characters, as Christian and patriot, 
that they ever before or since enrolled as mis- 
sionary! They waked up to that fact in 1897, 
when the great organization assembled in annual 
council, called attention to the fact, that it was 
''the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Dr. Marcus 
Whitman, an eminent missionary of the Board," 
and appointed special services to be held in several 
leading cities, and a general observance of that day. 
It was a thoughtful, educational. Christian act, 
which, if the old martyr could from his eternal 
mansion look down and hear, would make him 
glad. 

The good Presbyterians who were a part of the 
American Board at that time, and were not then 
at all anxious to share in any honors to Whit- 
man, latterly saw new light in something of the 
character grandeur of the neglected missionary. 
They caused a beautiful statue of Dr. Marcus Whit- 
man to be placed in their Witherspoon building 
at Philadelphia. To the boys and young men, let 
me say the lesson in this is, that all good things 
come to the good who wait! Stand true for the 
right. It was that which has resurrected the 
name and honor of Whitman, after long years of 



138 Whitman's Ride 

neglect, and will make his name shine, and glow 
with increasing luster, as the years come and go) 

As Mrs. Whitman playfully wrote her father 
and mother, ^'I expect my dear husband will be so 
full of his great mission that he will not take time 
to tell you of home affairs, I will do so." That 
was in a measure true. He made a hurried visit 
to his mother in her home, to his wife's parents, 
and to his brother, who had moved West. But his 
eyes and thoughts and hopes were ever westward. 
He had heard from General Love joy, who was on 
the ground, of the bright prospect of a large 
company for Oregon. As the spring months 
opened in 1843, there were stirring times along 
the border, such as never before seen. Great wag- 
ons, with white canvas covers, drawn by long- 
horned oxen, sturdy mules, and horses, herds of 
fine cattle to stock the new farms, with from eight 
hundred to a thousand men, women, and children, 
with their household treasures, were there. They 
had received the same inspiration as their fathers 
who had peopled the great West across the Alle- 
ghanies, and the motto still was, "Westward the 
Star of Empire takes its way." Such were the 
inspiring conditions which greeted Whitman when 
he reached the border. He was a man of great 
faith, and firmly believed in success, but such an 
imposing body filled his soul with gratitude and 
thankfulness. 



Whitman in Washington 139 

The company was made up mainly from the 
rural districts, strong, muscular men, their wives 
and children, and eager young people. There 
were many anxious mothers, who saw the responsi- 
bility of the great undertaking, and whose perils 
women intuitively feel more certainly than men. 
Who can tell the secret of that sudden gathering of 
pioneer heroes, on the banks of ''the Great Muddy" 
in 1843? True, the old missionaries had written 
many letters. New immigrants had done the 
same. But Congress and the national authorities 
had done nothing but ridicule, and in no single 
case had lent a helping hand. There must have 
been some secret telepathetic power which had 
sounded a call! 

True, Whitman and Lovejoy had been busy, 
but neither one ever made claim of inducing the 
great immigration of 1843. The honor was suffi- 
cient for them, as the only men acquainted with 
the road, to lead the great company to the promised 
land in safety. But the enemies of these mis- 
sionaries, especially of Whitman, tried so often to 
make light of his eminent services, that the Rev. 
Dr. Myron Eells of Twana, Washington, some 
years ago, sat down and wrote to every living 
pioneer of that immigration he could locate (and he 
knew most of them), and asked the question, ''Did 
Dr. Whitman induce you to immigrate to Oregon 
in 1843?" Two-fifths replied, "Yes." 



140 Whitman's Ride 

The last weeks of April and the first of May 
found most of the immigrants pulled out upon 
the road, in companies of fifties and hundreds. 
They were in the Indian country on the first day 
of travel, and not sure how such an invasion 
would be received by the savages, they were 
warned to keep compact, and in bodies large enough 
for protection. The Indians, men, women, and 
children, swarmed about every camp, and watched 
every movement. They were invariably treated 
kindly, and responded with kindness. The war- 
riors sat upon their horses stolidly by the trails 
and watched the long wagon-trains, the herds of 
cattle, and especially the women and children, the 
like of which had never before invaded their 
domain. The weeks of travel across the grass- 
grown, flower-covered prairies of Kansas and 
Nebraska was a picnic occasion for the immi- 
grants. It was well that it was so. They did not 
have many afterward. 

The wagons were soon strung out over a long 
line. Dr. Whitman did not start with the head of 
the company. In a letter to a friend he wrote, 
'*I remained behind until the last wagon was on 
the road." There were many who needed advice 
as to proper outfit, what to take, and what to leave, 
many who needed encouragement to start at all. 
When all had moved he rode rapidly to the 



Whitman in Washington 141 

head of the column, to overtake it before it reached 
the Platte, the first wide river to be crossed. 

The Platte is not a dangerous river if forded 
properly, but it looks threatening to timid people. 
It is nearly one mile wide, and it is about breast 
deep in ordinary stages. It runs over a bed of 
sand, and the secret of safety is to keep on the 
sand bars and keep moving. A halt, even for a few 
minutes, allows the feet of animals, or the wagon 
wheels to sink into the sands, and they are not easily 
extricated. Upon reaching the bank of the river, 
horsemen upon the best horses survey the route 
by zigzagging up and down, finding the shallowest 
water upon the bars, which are constantly shifting. 
The train of wagons are arranged to follow each 
other, a dozen or more yards apart, with horsemen 
at each vehicle to give immediate assistance in 
case of break or accident. The first driver keeps 
his eye upon the careful guides, picking the 
shallowest route. Careless endeavors to pull 
straight across, instead of pulling two miles around 
to gain one, involved trouble. The murky water 
is surcharged with sand, which is forever blown 
into it as it winds through the great plains, and 
is the source of the Missouri River's excessive 
supply of sand. It proves to be pure water if 
allowed to stand and settle. A bucket of water 
standing over night in the morning will be clear, 



142 Whitman's Ride 

with an inch of pure sand on the bottom. If the 
old maxim is true, *'A fellow needs sand in his 
craw," he easily gets it on the Platte. Our immi- 
grant party, wisely directed, forded the river safely 
with all its stock. Care was taken in fording all 
rivers to place heavy articles not easily injured by 
water low in the bed of the wagon. 

The Buffalo Country 

Here the caravan entered the buffalo country, 
where they were likely to meet large bodies of armed 
Indians who came there from long distances, to lay 
in their winter stores of meat and furs and skins. 
Many of these tribes were jealous of each other, and 
of white men who intruded upon their domain on 
such occasions, and bloody encounters frequently 
occurred while upon the way. The caravan had 
elected a captain to direct affairs and a guide to 
make orders for travel. But now they found so 
many questions arising in this large company, that 
a council or superior court was organized, from 
which there was no appeal. It held its sessions at 
night and upon rest days, and many of the mem- 
bers of that court upon the plains, after in the terri- 
tory and states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, 
held the highest offices of trust and honor. 

A halt to lay in a supply of buffalo meat was 
looked forward to with great satisfaction. But it 



Whitman in Washington 143 

was found impracticable for so large a company to 
make a permanent halt, so they kept moving. 

The hunters in large numbers went out each 
morning, with pack horses, and came in loaded at 
night with spoils of the chase. The noble bison 
was there by the million. 

When reaching the dusty alkaline plains, where 
both good water and grass were scarce, naturally the 
best tempered people often turned grumblers. One 
of the chief causes of complaint laid before the su- 
perior court was that which arose between the horse 
companies and the cattle companies. They did not 
agree well together. The court decided to divide 
the caravan into two columns, "the horse" and ''the 
cow' ' column. In 1 876 the Honorable Jesse Apple- 
gate, a member of that immigration, delivered an 
address before The Historical Society of Ore- 
gon, entitled "A Day with the Cow Column." 
It is one of the most precise and graphic pictures 
ever drawn of life as it was, in this advance column 
of civilization, destined for its great work in the 
future Pacific states. The last third of the dis- 
tance of that memorable journey proves the courage 
of the American, and at the same time arouses our 
commiseration and pity. I passed over the larger 
portion of the same road a few years later, with 
goggles drawn over my eyes, and a handkerchief 
bound about my face, as a defense from the 



144 Whitman's Ride 

dust and the myriad buffalo gnats, and can the 
more easily sympathize with those hundred mothers, 
often forced to travel on foot with little and well- 
nigh helpless children pulling at their skirts. As I 
think, I can but say, *'0 the pity of it!" 
Mr. Applegate remarks: 

"There was no time to pause and recruit the hungry stock, 
or to hunt for the withered herbage, for a marauding enemy- 
hung upon the rear, and hovered on our flanks, and skulked 
in ambuscade in front. The road was strewn with dead cattle, 
abandoned wagons, and every article of household goods, 
even the sacred keepsakes. The failing strength of teams, 
required shorter couplings so as to save a few pounds. An 
ox or a horse would fall. Men would remove the yoke or har- 
ness, and secure a substitute from the almost equally tired 
animals in the corral." 

Oh, it is well for the sons and daughters of 
these states of the Pacific, as well as the tourist in 
his parlor car, as they look upon flower-decked 
meadows, waving wheat-fields, orchards, and 
homes of comfort, with beauty everywhere, to 
remember the heroic deeds of heroic men and wo- 
men who won for them this grand inheritance. 

When the immigrants reached Fort Hall they 
met Captain Grant, who made the old appeal: 
"Leave your wagons, impossible to take them, no 
wagon-road to Oregon." He showed them the 
many wagons already left as proof of his statement. 
But here comes Whitman, who says, **Men, you 
have with incredible hardship brought your wagons 



Whitman in Washington 145 

thus far, they are a necessity for your wives' and 
children's comfort, even their Hves. They will be 
invaluable to you when the end of the journey is 
reached. I took a wagon, made into a cart, to 
Fort Boise six years ago." And thus ''Old 
Click,*' on its last round, gave out its best bless- 
ing, which it conferred upon tired mothers and 
little children. The company took Whitman's ad- 
vice, and the wagons rolled on. His watch-word 
was, ''Travel, travel, travel, nothing else will bring 
rest and the end of the journey. ' ' 

Upon reaching Snake River, the doctor devised 
an ingenious and safe method for the weaker teams 
to cross. There were still remaining about one 
hundred wagons, which Whitman arranged in one 
long line, placing the strong teams in front. The 
wagons rear and front were then roped together 
and the procession started with fifty men on 
horseback, pulling upon a long rope in front, while 
others attended the various teams to keep every 
one in line and moving. 

It was a daring venture, but so well managed 
that the deep and dangerous river, the worst upon 
the route, was passed without accident. Many 
years ago the author, while making a talk in the 
opera house at Walla Walla, where many of the 
old pioneers and their descendants were gathered, 
recited the incident of the crossing of the Snake. 



146 Whitman's Ride 

After the close of the meeting a venerable old 
gentleman came to me and taking my hand said: 

"Yes, that story of the crossing of the Snake is true, I was 
there. But I had four yoke of as good steers as ever pulled 
in yokes, and I was determined they should not be tied up in 
that long string of wagons to drown. I stood upon the bank 
and waited until the whole line was fully one-third across 
when I whipped in. I got about a quarter of a mile from 
shore, when I struck deep water, and felt my wagon floating, 
and soon oxen and wagon were facing squarely up stream, and 
the oxen barely getting foothold. I saw it only a question of 
time when we would drift into the deep water below and be 
lost. Just then I heard a shout, 'hold them steady,' 'hold 
them steady,' and I looked and saw a man rushing through 
the water, and as he came in reach he deftly dropped a rope 
over the horns of the lead ox, and beginning to pull gently 
said, 'Now whip up.* The noble animals responded, and 
taking a wide circuit, the water grew shallower, and we reached 
the shore in safety! And that man was Marcus Whitman!" 

At the Snake the doctor met his faithful old 
Indian Istikus, and a pack-train loaded with flour 
sent to them by Dr. Spalding. Never was a gener- 
ous gift so fraught with blessing. He also received 
letters telling him of the dangerous illness of Mrs. 
Spalding and urging him to leave all and ride with 
speed to the Spalding Mission. So the rest of 
the journey was made under the guidance of Istikus, 
who knew every foot of the way, and could give 
excellent advice. 

The doctor, mounted upon a fresh horse sent 
by Dr. Spalding, was soon galloping on his way, 



Whitman in Washington 147 

and his wonderful ride ended when he reached 
home a few days later. Less than three weeks 
after that one hundred wagons, with their precious 
loads of wearied humanity, rolled down the sides of 
the Blue Mountains into the grassy, flower-decked 
meadows of the Walla Walla Valley, and Ameri- 
can history made one of its grandest records. Old 
Glory went up, never to be hauled down while 
patriots live! The entire land between the oceans 
was ours. While perhaps one distinctive personage 
stands conspicuously in the front, there were hon- 
ors enough to crown the whole band of heroes and 
heroines which, in 1843, at a critical period, 
marked plainly the great highway across the 
continent. 



CHAPTER X 



Whitman Joins the Great Immigrating Column. 
The News of the Safe Arrival in Oregon, ajid 
its Effects Upon the People. The Part Taken 
by Dr. Whitman, and Or&gon^s Importance to 
the Nation. The Great Political Contest. The 
Massacre. 

THE great immigration of 1843 to Oregon had 
called out wide attention from the thinking 
people all over the land. Congressmen in 
Washington began to hear from the people; 
still, in both houses of Congress were heard 
mutterings of ''the desert waste" and ''dangers 
of expansion." Lawmakers have a way of Hsten- 
ing to the voices of men who make lawmakers, and 
they heard it on the Oregon question. President 
Tyler was true to his pledge to Whitman, and if 
there ever was a thought on the part of Webster to 
barter off Oregon, it was never heard of again. A 
great political party saw in it a popular national 
issue, and emblazoned upon their banners "Oregon 
and 54' 40° or fight!" 

Nobody ever before or since saw such a politi- 
cal upheaval and somersault. The issue elected 
148 



Safe Arrival in Oregon ' 149 

both a President and a Congress. President Tyler 
was unwilling to let all the glory of it go to his 
political enemies, and in his closing message, gave 
large place to the importance of Oregon! The 
incoming President James K. Polk gave about 
one-fourth of his entire message to the Oregon 
question. 

Such was the status of the question within a 
year and a half after Whitman's great ride. 

The question was up to England, and the west- 
ern boundary of the United States, which had been 
so easily settled in 1842, by compromising on a 
few farms in Maine, had to move westward from 
its fixed place in ''the great Stony Mountains," or 
war was imminent. 

England, as well as America, was aroused, and 
she sent over her experienced minister plenipo- 
tentiary Packingham. James Buchanan repre- 
sented the United States, and they began their 
great task without delay. We no longer heard the 
old congressional cry of ''No value in Oregon." 
Both nations saw great issues at stake, and keen 
and prolonged negotiations resulted. It was a 
battle royal between experienced diplomatists. 
Now, please note a prominent fact, this demand to 
settle the national dispute began in 1844, ^^^ it 
was not until April, 1846, that the treaty was 
signed, after most laborious efforts. 



150 Whitman's Ride 

I wish to impress upon my readers the impor- 
tance of dates in this, for they emphasize and make 
clear the timely acts of Whitman. In less than 
seven months the United States declared war 
against Mexico, and California was at stake. 
Suppose England could have foreseen that event, 
and the nine hundred million dollars of pure gold 
mined in California and Oregon, during the follow- 
ing ten years, would she have signed the treaty 
even in 1846? When did that great nation ever 
allow such a golden opportunity to pass without 
reserving tribute? Had England been given more 
time and more thorough knowledge, there is scarcely 
a doubt but that she would have tenaciously held 
to Oregon. It would have been easy for her to 
have joined hands with Mexico, and if so, had the 
United States held any of her present Pacific pos- 
sessions, it would have been after a long and deso- 
lating war, in which the United States would have 
been at a great disadvantage, from its small navy 
at that time. 

''I Must Go Now'' 

You will recollect when Dr. Whitman's old 
friends at the mission conference recited to him the 
dangers of such a trip, and said ''Wait until 
spring," he simply and solemnly replied ''/ must 
go now.'' The plain facts of history are the keys 



Safe Arrival in Oregon 151 

that explain that answer! It would not have done 
"to wait until spring." In all the sacred record, 
dealing with men's duties, the command is ''go," 
''do," not to-morrow, not next year, but "now." 
Whitman made no boast to his fellow-missionaries 
of any inspiration, but they were of the class of 
men who could understand and appreciate his acts. 
In the glow of light from history, every thoughtful 
Christian can read their deeper meaning. 

No, it would have been all too late had he waited 
to pilot that great immigration of 1843. No 
reader can but know, upon the safety of that band 
of immigrants, the fate of Oregon was dependent 
for years to come. Had another great Donnelley 
disaster come to them, and they had perished, who 
knows when another would have followed.'' No, 
it would not do to "wait until spring." It even 
then, with an awakened people, required two years 
to get England's consent to sign the treaty. Then, 
having Oregon we wanted and needed California. 
More reason still, great perils were in front, and 
less than a dozen years later, the existence of 
the Union was in danger. With the gold of Cali- 
fornia and Oregon, and the three great loyal states 
behind the flag, it is easy to see the timeliness of 
the act, and the immensity of the danger from 
delay, not only to Oregon, hut to the nation. 

Some may say, "this is only a supposable case,'' 



152 Whitman's Ride 

and it would be true, but the facts are that Eng- 
land, through her Hudson Bay Company, had 
virtually owned and controlled Oregon for nearly 
half a century, from 1818 up to the day Whit- 
man started upon his great ride, altogether with 
the official sanction of the American people. 
There can scarcely be a doubt in regard to it, for 
reasons before stated, that England expected to 
continue to hold it all, or at least a large portion of 
it. Those who shout no danger are blind to his- 
toric facts. 

Had England at the date mentioned owned 
Oregon, or any part of it, it is reasonably certain 
she would have thrown her great influence with the 
South in that terrible struggle in 1 861-1865, when 
*' cotton was king," and when it required all the 
eloquence of America's greatest orators, backed 
up by many of England's wisest statesmen, to pre- 
vent England at the most critical period of the 
struggle, ''acknowledging the belligerent rights of 
the South." 

Old Glory floats to-day from ocean to ocean, 
and from lakes to the Gulf the men once at war 
are at peace: ''the gray" and "the blue" have 
since marched and fought under the same flag, 
and have rejoiced together alike in its achieve- 
ments. 

The brave pioneers of Oregon, without waiting 




THE ASSASSINATION OF DR. WHITMAN. 



Safe Arrival in Oregon 153 

for authority of Congress, raised the American flag, 
organized a territorial government, elected offi- 
cials to make and execute laws, and from 1843 
to 1848, without the aid of Congress, by a single 
official act, they carried on the government as 
becomes good citizens of the Republic. True, there 
were murmurings in Congress as of old, but they 
were only half-hearted, and half in earnest. The 
final signing of the treaty in 1846 was the doom, 
however, of the regime of England in Oregon. 

England in its Saddle 

She did not wait for signatures to the treaty 
to set on foot an inquiry, as to the loss of Oregon, 
or who was responsible for it, and how this great 
immigration from the states had originated. The 
English company forthwith sent a commission, 
made up of Messrs. Peel, Park, and Wavaseur, to 
Oregon, to learn all the facts. When they reached 
there they had an easy task, for both Englishmen 
and Americans understood the matter. 

When Whitman and Spalding, with their wives, 
caught up with the convoy of fur-traders, in that 
memorable journey in 1836, one of the old voy- 
ageurs who had felt the iron hand of the Hudson 
Bay Company, sententiously remarked, as he 
pointed his finger at the two American women, 
"There is something the royal Hudson Bay Com- 



154 Whitman's Ride 

pany and its masters can't drive out of Oregon!" 
And it proved true prophecy. We have already 
noted the courtesy and kindness with which Dr. 
John McLoughHn, the chief factor, received the 
missionaries. The London officials soon learned 
that they had to deal with but one man, and he was 
in their power. 

If that interview between the doctor and these 
eminent Englishmen, who had grown great and rich 
through his management, could be fully reported, 
it would doubtless make interesting reading. How- 
ever modern historians may differ as to the cause 
of the sudden large immigration of Americans to 
Oregon, the commissioners from London had no 
doubt upon the subject. They made the direct 
charge that it was due to McLoughlin's over-kind- 
ness to the missionaries, that had he treated them 
as he did the American traders, such conditions 
would not have existed. It mattered not that the 
good old doctor knew that the charge was sub- 
stantially true, and yet he arose in righteous indig- 
nation, and replied: 

"What would you have? Would you have me turn a cold 
shoulder on the men of God, who came to do for the Indians, 
that which this company had ever neglected to do? If we had 
not helped them, and the immigrants of '42 and '43, Fort Van- 
couver would have been destroyed, and the world would have 
treated our inhuman conduct as it deserved. Every officer 
of the Company, from governor down, would have been cov- 
ered with obloquy and the business ruined." 



Safe Arrival in Oregon 155 

This conference was about one year and eight 
months before the signing of the treaty, and the 
EngUsh people and the Hudson Bay Company, 
while worried over the situation, still had small fear 
of losing the entire country. They felt sure of at 
least owning, upon final settlement, all north of the 
Columbia River. They still expected to undo the 
work of the man who had for more than a quarter 
of a century been coining them fortunes, and they 
promptly turned him adrift, and appointed his suc- 
cessor. 

After the treaty was signed, in 1846, and 
came fully into American possession, the great 
monopoly continued to show its modesty, and sent 
in a bill of damages to the United States for 
$4,950,036.17, of which amount the United States 
paid in cash $650,000. Then the Company 
** squatted" upon one of our islands some six 
miles from shore, raised the English flag, and the 
United States had another siege lasting thirty years, 
with threatened war, before the question, ''who 
owns San Juan Island.'"' was left to the arbitration 
of the emperor of Germany, who, in 1875, decided 
in favor of the United States. With this brief his- 
tory we dismiss the Hudson Bay Company from 
our further concern, except to note its humane act, 
in the prompt rescuing of the captive women 
and children, after the massacre. Still there 



156 Whitman*s Ride 

is another good thing that should be said of the 
Hudson Bay Company. Under the rule of Dr. 
McLoughlin ''the great white head chief," the 
Indians over so large a district were never before 
so well and wisely ruled. They obeyed his orders 
as promptly as loyal subjects to their king. The 
desire in these pages has been to do no injustice, 
or make unfair criticism. There are ''trusts" and 
"monopolies" in the United States to-day even 
more selfish than the Hudson Bay Company. The 
English people were not usurpers in Oregon. 
They only accepted and used for the first half of 
the nineteenth century, with the full official consent 
of the American people, one of our great posses- 
sions, which we had marked as "worthless." It is 
well to bear such facts in mind, and thus allow the 
mischief done, as well as the good attained, to rest 
where it belongs. 

Whitman on the March and at the Mission 
"Who led the great immigration of 1843 safely 
to Oregon.?" has often been a subject of discussion. 
Upon the safety of that band was that of Oregon 
dependent. Whitman was not the captain of the 
caravan, but he was the one man in the cavalcade 
who had been three times over the route. In that 
day there was not a guide-book in existence, and 
he, with General Lovejoy (who had been over this 



Safe Arrival in Oregon 157 

route once, and that from Fort Hall twice), was 
relied upon by captain, guide, and people for 
advice and direction. It is easy to see the impor- 
tant place he held. 

Perhaps no man among the pioneers of Oregon 
was better qualified to tell of Whitman's services 
than was the Honorable Jesse Applegate, who was 
a member of the expedition, and for many years 
after, one of the most honored citizens of Oregon. 

In a great oration, delivered before the State 
Historical Society of Oregon, in 1876, he calls 
Dr. Whitman the ''good angel of the immigration. " 
In closing his address, after noting many eminent 
men and their good work, he said: 

"Now, I will intrude no other name of that noble band but 
that devoted man, Dr. Marcus Whitman. His stay with us 
was transient, but the good he did was permanent. From the 
day he joined us on the Platte, his indomitable energy was of 
priceless value to the migrating column, and it is no disparage- 
ment to any individual to say, that to no other man are the 
immigrants of 1843 so deeply indebted for a successful con- 
clusion of their journey as to Dr. Whitman." 

Dr. Spalding, who was present at the Whitman 
Mission when the immigrants reached there, says: 

"Hundreds of the immigrants stopped at Waiilatpui to 
take Whitman by the hand, and many with tears in their eyes, 
acknowledged their obligations for his untiring labor and skill, 
which brought them in safety over the weary way." 

Whitman was not a politician in the sense the 



158 Whitman's Ride 

term is generally used, but only a few months 
before his death he rode on horseback to Oregon 
City to induce his old friend Judge Thornton to 
visit Washington and try to persuade the authori- 
ties to organize a territorial government in Oregon. 
The Judge accepted, and was on that mission at 
the time of the massacre at Waiilatpui (Novem- 
ber 29, 1847). 

The Massacre 

Whitman was a tireless worker. Frequently, 
after toiling all day in his fields or upon his build- 
ings, he spent long hours of the night on the rounds 
to visit his sick; yet he did not fail to see the bad 
influences used upon the Cayuse Indians. 

They feared him and his influence. There had 
been mutterings of discontent among the Cayuse 
Indians; too many whites were coming in. There 
was much sickness among the Indians; the measles 
had prevailed; with their unsanitary living and bar- 
barous treatment of the sick many had died. They 
laid it all to the white settlers, and blamed those 
who encouraged and helped them. Good old 
Istikus, their faithful Indian friend of many years, 
had warned them that some of his people had bad 
hearts toward them, and begged them to go away 
until their hearts were good again. But how could 
they go. On the fatal morning when the con- 



Safe Arrival in Oregon 159 

spiracy was brought to execution, seventy people 
were in the mission station, mostly women, chil- 
dren, and sick men worn out by long travel and 
exposure. It was two hundred and fifty miles to 
Fort Vancouver by trail or in open boats down the 
Columbia River. That was the only place of 
safety, and they could not leave all these people, 
nor could they take them. Moreover, Whitman 
still had faith in his Indians, which was partly justi- 
fied by the facts, as it was proved that no Cayuse 
could quite bring himself to strike the first blow. 
But they found one more treacherous who was 
ready to take the Judas part in the tragedy. He 
was called Joe Tahamas, a half-breed Canadian, 
who had come to the mission station several months 
before hungry, sick, and half-clad. As their cus- 
tom was they took him in, clothed, fed, and nursed 
him back to health again. After a time they found 
him fomenting quarrels among their people, and 
stirring up their evil passions in various ways. 
They finally procured him a place as teamster to 
go to the Willamette River, and hoped their 
troubles with him were ended. He had returned, 
and from after evidence, had no doubt been going 
through the tribe, and with a lying tongue rousing 
the Indians to a mad passion against their friends 
and benefactors. Some distant chief of the tribe 
had armed him with what was known as ''The 



i6o Whitman's Ride 



Charmed Tomahawk." It had long before been 
presented to them by the warring Sioux, in some 
great peace talk, and was to bring them victory 
and good fortune wherever it was used. After the 
massacre at Waiilatpui and the war following, with 
the banishment and partial destruction of their 
tribe, '*The Charmed Tomahawk" became ^^Bad 
Medicine." No one wished to keep it, but with 
the old superstition of a living spirit in everything, 
they feared to destroy it, lest some greater punish- 
ment should fall upon them, and it passed from 
one to another as they would receive it. 

The Charmed Tomahawk 

An Indian agent, named Logan, learned the 
story and purchased it, as we may believe, for but 
a small sum. During the Civil War, in an auction 
sale for the benefit of The Sanitary Commission, 
the hatchet with its story was sold for a hundred 
dollars, and was presented to the legislature of 
Oregon. It has finally lodged among the treas- 
ured relics of the Oregon Pioneer Association in 
Portland, where it will doubtless be seen by many 
during the coming summer. The 29th of Novem- 
ber, 1847, the fatal morning dawned that ended 
the career of the devoted missionary band gathered 
on the Walla Walla. The Doctor no doubt with a 
heavy heart, after all his warnings, went out on 



Safe Arrival in Oregon i6i 

his round of duty, to look after the farm and stock, 
to visit the sick, and supply any wants of the emi- 
grants camped about them. Returning to the 
house, he sat down in his office before his desk 
and was reading with John Sager, one of his 
adopted boys seated by his side. An Indian came 
in, saying he was sick and wanted some medicine. 
While his attention was engaged by him, Tahamas 
stole silently in, armed with **The Charmed Toma- 
hawk, ' ' and with one blow on the back of the head, 
crushed in the skull, and the poor Doctor sank 
unconscious to the floor, though he lived for several 
hours after. The brave boy by his side, drew a 
small pistol from his pocket, and attempted to 
shoot the murderer, but was struck down with the 
same weapon and immediately killed. The Indians 
then left the house, where there were only women 
and children, to join the great company gathering 
outside and find the unarmed men scattered about 
the place. Two of these badly wounded made 
their way back to the house, and barred doors and 
windows as best they could to protect the helpless 
ones inside. Only four men made their escape un- 
harmed to carry the news to Fort Vancouver and 
ask for help. Mr. Spalding, one of their fellow 
missionaries, was on his way, and near Waiilatpui, 
when the massacre occurred. His little daughter 
was in Mrs. Whitman's school, a witness of the 



1 62 Whitman*s Ride 



whole bloody tragedy, and afterward one of the 
captives, carried away by the Indians. From her 
descriptions, and that of others who lived to tell 
the tale, he wrote a full description of the tragic 
scenes to the parents of Mrs. Whitman. It is 
needless to say they were too terrible to repeat 
in detail. Still it is well to know how the heroic 
wife met death, still giving her thought and life 
for others. She and one of the young women 
had carried the body of her dying husband to 
a private room, and she was kneeling by his 
side, when the host of savages returned to the 
house. Maddened like wild beasts with the 
sight of blood, they tore the weak bars from doors 
and windows, and with savage war-whoops entered 
the house. Their superstitions prevented them 
from entering the death chamber, but they began 
looting the house and threatening to kill the women 
and children, whose frantic cries added terror to 
the scene. It was then the heroic wife left the 
side of her dying husband, and her safe retreat, 
going from one to another trying to comfort and 
soothe them. As she walked past a window, a 
bullet struck her in the breast; she grasped the 
window-sill to keep from falling, and recognized 
her murderer as Tahamas, for whom she had done 
so much. She exclaimed, "Oh, Joe, is it you!" 
It was like the dying cry of Caesar, when he saw 



Safe Arrival in Oregon 163 

his old-time friend in the mob about him, "Thou, 
too, Brutus!" and a sharper pang than her wound 
gave entered that tender heart. She was carried 
back to her room. A few hours later the Indians 
sent word to her that if she would come out they 
would not harm her, but would go away after they 
had seen her. She was then too weak from loss 
of blood to walk, but she asked Mr. Rogers, one of 
their helpers, and Miss Beulah, a friend, to carry 
her into the next room, where the Indians had 
gathered. They had hardly entered it when a 
volley of shots were fired, and both she and Rogers 
were pierced by many balls. 

Some one now in authority gave an order not 
to shoot the women and children. The little ones 
were all gathered in one corner, witnessing the 
whole terrible scene, but one Indian more humane 
picked up some blankets and screened it all from 
their view. One of the men, a guest at the mis- 
sion, raised a board in the floor and hid him- 
self, wife, and three children beneath. They suf- 
fered agony in their imprisonment, with the 
blood of the murdered ones trickling through the 
floor upon them. On a visit to Walla Walla and 
out to the old mission farm, two years ago, we met 
a very intelligent and interesting lady, who, in the 
course of conversation, told us that she was one of 
the three children hidden under the floor during 



164 Whitman's Ride 

that terrible day and that she was then but a little 
child the remembrance had never left her, nor 
could she see an Indian without a shudder. The 
Indians went at their work leisurely, and seemed 
anxious to prolong the torture. They knew it was 
two hundred and fifty miles to Vancouver, and they 
had no fear of molestation from any other source. 
For five days they kept up their orgies, guarding 
against escape of their victims. At the end of that 
time they began to be anxious for their own safety, 
and gathering the women and children, forty in 
number, they started for a friendly tribe to wait for 
developments. 

Runners were sent in haste to Fort Vancouver 
telling of the disaster, and Chief Factor Ogden of 
the Hudson Bay Company lost no time in start- 
ing for the scene with twenty picked men, boats 
and provisions. Upon reaching Waiilatpui they 
found everything in ruins, the houses wrecked, the 
mill burned, and the dead bodies of eleven men, 
one boy, besides the bodies of Dr. and Mrs. Whit- 
man. These were all tenderly gathered and buried 
together, in what has been called ever since ''the 
Great Grave." In the mean time Chief Ogden 
had sent runners after the Indians, with a peremp- 
tory order to return all the captive women and 
children to him at once, to Fort Walla Walla. 
For many years the Indians had been accustomed 




D. K PEARSONS, M. D.. LL. D 



Safe Arrival in Oregon 165 

to obey orders from this source, and they thought 
it wise now to comply; besides they soon began to 
find the helpless captives a burden to feed. 
Chief Ogden assured them he would pay them a 
handsome ransom if all were brought in safely. 
One or two of the chiefs, who were enamored of 
the young women, insisted they should be allowed 
to keep them in captivity and make them their 
wives. It required strategy, threats, and prom- 
ise of larger reward before that trouble was over- 
come. All were finally brought in, except three 
delicate children, one the adopted child of the 
doctor, and two others, who perished from expo- 
sure. Ogden gave the Indians blankets, powder, 
lead, and other articles they demanded, to the value 
of five hundred dollars, and all were conveyed to 
Fort Vancouver, and places of safety. 

Four men only escaped the massacre. One of 
these was Dr. Spalding. He was on his way to 
visit the doctor on business, and to see his little 
daughter, who was a pupil in Mrs. Whitman's 
school. When nearing the station he met one of 
the Jesuit priests, who told him of the disaster. 
He immediately retraced his steps, fully expect- 
ing a like work at his own mission. He reached 
home the second night in a dazed condition. His 
Nez Perces, when they heard of it, rallied around 
him some five hundred of their bravest warriors, 



1 66 Whitman's Ride 



and escorted Dr. and Mrs. Spalding quickly to a 
place of safety. Their little daughter Eliza, nearly 
ten, was rescued and returned to them. 

Cayuse Thought the Flurry Over 

The Cayuse received their presents and seemed 
to think their work was over. In this they were 
mistaken. The hardy old pioneers of Oregon, who 
loved and honored Dr. and Mrs. Whitman, arose 
as one man, and in winter, without tents or proper 
equipments, moved down upon the Cayuse country. 
I do not intend to burthen my readers with the 
story of a long, desolating Indian war. It was a 
bloody and savage contest, where General Phil H. 
Sheridan was initiated into active military life and 
won his first honors. 

The leaders in the massacre, Tilcokait, Tahamas, 
Ouichmarsum, Klvakamus, and Sichsalucus were 
arrested and hung at Oregon City, just before the 
author reached there. In 1850 one of the most mis- 
erable of the villains, Tarntsaky, was killed while be- 
ing arrested. My room-mate in Oregon in 1 850, the 
late Samuel Campbell of Idaho, spent the winter 
and spring of 1847 at the Whitman Mission, and 
never tired in telling of the lovely Christian char- 
acter of Mrs. Whitman, of her kindness and patience 
to whites and Indians alike. She had retained 
the same glorious musical voice, and life wherever 
she went was filled with what Matthew Arnold 



Safe Arrival in Oregon 167 

would call ^'sweetness and light." Mr. Campbell 
said while he was a prisoner at Grand Ronde, old 
Tarntsaky one day boasted in his presence that he 
took the scalp from Mrs. Whitman's head, and told 
him of the long, golden, silky hair. He said, 
"Prisoner as I was, it was all I could do to keep 
my fingers from his throat." The many tribes 
around sided with the Cayuse, except the Nez 
Perces, and the whole land was closed to white 
settlers for over ten years, as the state govern- 
ment deemed it impossible to protect the scattered 
settlements. 

The Result 

The final result was that the tribes engaging in 
the war were all removed to distant reservations, and 
forty thousand square miles of rich territory were 
opened to settlement. Thus the great sacrifice re- 
sulted for the good of the people. The work of 
the American Board in sending missionaries to 
Oregon has sometimes been called -''a disaster" 
and ''failure." Was it? What could have been 
grander work for any Christian man than Whitman's 
brave part in saving the whole great territory to the 
Union? Patriotism is a part of Christianity, and 
an important part. That man is a feeble Christian 
who does not love his home and fatherland. 

The American Board never claimed, or received, 
a moiety of the reward deserved, because of its 



1 68 Whitman's Ride 



poor estimate of the great work done at that time 
by its servants. Well did Dr. Frank Gunsaulus 
say: 

"Marcus Whitman was more to the ulterior Northwest than 
John Harvard has ever been to the Northeast of our common 
country." 

Two names which shine brightest upon the pages 
of English history are Dr. Robert Livingstone and 
Dr. John McKenzie, both missionaries, and both 
poor men. Their eminent services were along 
much the same lines as those of Dr. Whitman — 
services to the whole people and the nation. Dr. 
McKenzie made three trips to London before he 
could persuade the English authorities to plant 
their flag over Bechuanaland, the flower and wealth 
of all South Africa. But how England and Eng- 
lish people have ever since loved to do honor to 
both these noble men! Dr. Whitman, by his 
eminent and heroic service, laid the American 
people under as great a debt of gratitude, and I 
simply point to facts already narrated to sustain 
that position. Have the people of the United 
States done their simple duty to its noble martyrs? 

The Benefits to the Indians 

As to the benefits from the missionaries to the 
Indians themselves eternity alone will reveal how 
little or how much good was conferred. The 



Safe Arrival in Oregon 169 

Cayuse was a trading tribe of Indians, and were 
almost as unscrupulous in their dealings as Wall 
Street is to-day. Dr. Whitman had hard uphill 
work in changing their customs. Yet many of the 
Cayuse became Christians. Old Istikus was a 
prince among Christian men, savage as he was. 
For sixteen years after the death of his loved 
friends, he regularly went to the door of his wig- 
wam, rang the old mission bell, and invited all 
to come in to prayers. General Joel Barlow, who 
was one of the commissioners after the treaty of 
peace in 1855, to settle the Indians upon their 
reservations, says: 

"I found forty-five Cayuse and one thousand Nez Perces 
who have kept up regular family worship, singing from the old 
hymn books, translated into their language by Mrs. Spalding. 
Many of them showed surprising evidences of piety." 

The most successful of the missions, as far as 
good to the Indians was concerned, was doubtless 
that of Mr. and Mrs. Spalding among the Nez 
Perces. They were the friends and companions of 
Dr. and Mrs. Whitman on that long wedding jour- 
ney over plains and mountains. They were pushed 
far out in the wilderness by the Hudson Bay Com- 
pany in what is now eastern Washington, and the 
Spokane country near where the city of that name 
is located. They were gentle, kind, and self-sacri- 
ficing, and perhaps were fortunate in being so 



lyo Whitman's Ride 

isolated. The Indians received them and their 
message kindly, and soon there were many sincere 
and earnest Christians among them. A small 
printing-press was sent them from Honolulu that 
had become insufficient for their work there. Mrs. 
Spalding translated the Book of Matthew, some 
psalms, hymns, and a few school books, into the 
Nez Perces language, and they printed them with 
their little hand-press. It is said that, now after 
sixty years have passed, they still have some of 
them that are carefully treasured relics. They 
have never engaged in wars, remain in the lands 
of their fathers, are farmers and stock raisers, have 
churches and schools, and are respected by their 
white neighbors. One little touch of nature lingers 
with them still, one will often see an Indian teepee 
or wigwam in the yard or some place near a com- 
fortable house. Doubtless the father often goes 
there to smoke his pipe in peace and comfort. Mr. 
Spalding lived to be an old man, and told and wrote 
much of the early life of the missions. 

In these chapters we have purposely avoided 
discussing the motives which led up to the massacre. 
There have been many charges not fully sustained, 
that have caused ill feeling and done harm. But 
it is undoubtedly true that Dr. Whitman's activity 
to help settle Oregon with Americans was the 
direct cause of the great disaster. Dr. McLough- 



Safe Arrival in Oregon 171 

lin was driven from office for no other reason than 
his kindness to the missionaries that made Whit- 
man's ride possible. Just as certainly Dr. and 
Mrs. Whitman perished because they loved the 
flag and all it represented, and were brave enough 
to express it by heroic acts whose results would not 
be misunderstood by the enemies of the republic. 
There is good evidence that Dr. Whitman under- 
stood the perils of his mission before entering upon 
it, but in such a character fear played a small 
part when confronted by duty. 



CHAPTER XI 



The Memorials to Whitman, Why Delayed. Why 
the History was not Written Earlier. Whitman 
College the Grand Monument! Professor Harris 
Defines ^^ History the window through which the 
soul looks down upon the past and reads its les- 
sons.^' 

IT is of great importance that history be writ- 
ten accurately, and is best when written at the 
time of action by reHable observers. But 
there is much history of great value which was 
not currently recorded. The Bible record is an 
instance of this. Take the history of the bat- 
tles of the great Civil War as another illustra- 
tion. General Sherman, president of ''The Army 
of the Tennessee, ' ' in every annual meeting, long 
after the war, declared the papers read before the 
society, and those read before ' ' The Loyal Legion, ' * 
descriptions of skirmishes, campaigns, and battles 
of the great conflict, as of greater value to history 
than were even the official reports made at the time 
of action ; they were the personal experiences of 
many participants; that they caught the very spirit 

172 



The Memorials to Whitman 



173 



of the time and events, and were reliable although 
written thirty and more years later. 

There were many valid reasons why the history 
of the North Pacific states in pioneer days was left 
unwritten for many years. It was mos fortunate 
that when the subject first began to receive atten- 
tion so many of the pioneers were still living, and 
that so much of the history had been preserved by 
the Pioneer Association of Oregon, and by indi- 
vidual records and letters. The writer reached 
Oregon soon after the massacre at Waiilatpui. 
He was a teacher of the boys and girls of the first 
settlers, and had access to their homes soon after 
the execution of the five Indian leaders. The 
scene of the execution was not far distant from the 
school-house in the fir woods. Naturally it was a 
subject for discussion in every intelligent circle. I 
thus learned historic facts not from books of written 
history, but from men who were makers of the his- 
tory. 

Why the Writing was Delayed 

In less than eight months after the massacre, 
gold was discovered in California and Oregon, and 
no other event so absorbed the attention of the 
population of the Pacific Coast or we might 
say of the whole United States. They thought 
of little else for ten years. During the same 



174 Whitman's Ride 

period, an Indian war following the Whitman mas- 
sacre was in progress in Oregon. Before these 
excitements ceased, the political upheavals, begin- 
ning in 1856, culminated in i860. Then fol- 
lowed the great struggle of the Civil War, when 
giants met in battle, and the very existence of 
the nation hung upon the success of the men be- 
hind the flag. After 1865, the starry flag floated 
from ocean to ocean, from the lakes to the Gulf, 
came the troublous period of reconstruction — rail- 
road-building and money-making as never before 
witnessed in the Republic. 

It is not at all strange that under such con- 
ditions, at least such history as was made by a poor 
country doctor and his noble, unselfish wife should 
have been for the time neglected. Who will say 
that it is too late to remember such.? In every 
civilized land the historian's pen, the painter's 
brush, and the sculptor's art have been taxed to 
place upon the library shelves historical books, 
upon the walls paintings, and upon pedestals 
sculptured marble; thus commemorating the noble 
dead, their great names live again as educators of 
the people. 

The Memorials to Whitman Few 

After leaving Oregon, the writer did not return 
for forty-five years; in the interim were won- 



The Memorials to Whitman 175 

drous changes. The giant forests of firs had 
disappeared, while cities, towns, and country 
homes, and waving wheat-fields had taken their 
places. But as I stood at ''the Great Grave" of 
the martyrs, it alone was undisturbed and un- 
changed, in all these years! 

To the great credit of loyal pioneers of Ore- 
gon who knew Whitman and his work, upon the 
fiftieth anniversary of his death erected a stately 
marble column above the grave and secured five 
acres of ground about it, while the Christian people 
of Walla Walla built a Httle Memorial Mission 
Church at the place of the massacre. 

In a previous chapter we noted the action of the 
American Board and the Presbyterian statue to 
Whitman upon the fiftieth anniversary of his death. 

It is gratifying to observe these marked evidences 
of awakened interest in the long-neglected Oregon- 
ian hero. It is but the beginning, for the name 
and honor of Marcus Whitman will shine with new 
luster in the years to come. 

The Grand Memorial is Whitman College 

It needs no argument to convince intelligent 
readers, young or old, that to such a character as 
Whitman, a great institution of learning is the best 
and most appropriate memorial. While it is a con- 
stant reminder of a noble, unselfish, patriotic Chris- 



176 Whitman's Ride 

tian life, it is also a blessing to the whole people 
within its reach, by building up intellectual and 
moral character in the young men and women of 
that land for which he gave his life. 

The story of Whitman College, like the life of 
the man it commemorates, gives a lesson in faith. 

Dr. Gushing Eells was the co-worker with Whit- 
man, and perhaps knew the inner life of the man 
better than any other. After the massacre he was 
driven from his post, but returned to the Indian 
country as soon as it was opened to white people. 
He at once visited the tragic grounds at Waiilatpui. 
As he stood uncovered at the great grave of his 
beloved friends, he writes in his diary: 

"I believe the power of the Highest came upon me, and I 
asked, What can I do to honor the memory of these Christian 
martyrs who did so much for the nation and humanity? I felt 
if Dr. '/^hitman could be consulted he would prefer a high 
school for the benefit of both sexes, rather than a monument 
of marble." 

We must remember that at that time there were 
very few schools in the Pacific States above the 
grade of the ordinary country district school. 

The subject impressed him, and as he thought 
and prayed, it came to him as his life work and 
duty, to build such a monument. In memory of his 
friend he laid the matter before his good wife, it met 
with her cordial approval; and then before the Con- 
gregational Council, and they enthusiastically in- 



^» 



^fi..|lliiif''^ ■ « 

ijiifiiiiin 



111 



rrr 



MEMORIAL HALL WHITMAN COLLEGE. 




YOUNG MEN'S DORMITORY, WHITMAN COLLEGE. 



The Memorials to Whitman 177 

dorsed the work, and in a closing minute said, 
"The Whitman Seminary is in memory of the 
noble deeds and great work of the late lamented 
Dr. Whitman and his noble wife. ' * 

Dr. Eells, like Whitman, was a very poor 
man. The people about them were poor. But 
they were rich in the kind of "Faith that removes 
mountains. ' ' To financiers of modern times who 
demand millions for schools the outlook for Whit- 
man Seminary would not have been marked as 
* 'promising. ' ' Dr. Eells bought the great Whitman 
Mission farm from the American Board for one 
thousand dollars (On credit), and began work. He 
and his wife were then well along in years, but 
that did not count, and they had two sons of like 
mind who still live to tell the story. For 
SIX years he plowed, sowed, reaped, and preached 
a free Gospel up and down the valley; while 
the good wife made butter, raised chickens, spun 
and wove, and at the end of that time, they had 
accumulated six thousand dollars to start Whit- 
man Seminary. The charter was granted, the 
foundations laid, and work begun. The time 
came, years later, when the seminary grew into a 
college, and Dr. Eells had such strong and able 
men to aid and advise him as Dr. Anderson, the 
first president. Dr. Atkinson, Dr. Lyman, Dr. 
Spalding, and many others. But the college, while 



178 Whitman's Ride 

it had from the outset a good reputation, was poor; 
there was no endowment, and the young men and 
women to be educated were poor. Dr. Eells de- 
voted his time and Hfe energies to his task, but in 
spite of all they had to place a mortgage of thirteen 
thousand five hundred dollars upon the property. 
One has to read the story in Dr. Eells' diary to know 
it in its completeness. In its darkest days, when 
the faith of others was small, his was still as strong 
as at the beginning. The last entries in his diary, 
just before his death, were prayers for the upbuild- 
ing and full success of Whitman College. 

The Story of Long Ago, and its Sequel 

The sacred word says, "A word fitly spoken is 
like apples of gold in pictures of silver!" Who 
can overestimate the power of a good word or a 
good act? Drop a stone in the middle of a placid 
lake and the circles begin and widen until they 
reach the farthest shore. So with good words and 
good acts, they go on and on into the great future, 
in ways we know not of. 

Congressman Thurston was a Maine man — 
a fine type physically, intellectually, and morally. 
He had early immigrated to Oregon, and was 
the first congressman from that territory. It was 
too far to return to Oregon for his summer va- 
cation, over the slow routes of that day, so he 



The Memorials to Whitman 179 

went up to Chicopee, Massachusetts, to spend the 
summers of 1848 and 1849. The house where he 
boarded was one of the old-fashioned New Eng- 
land double houses, with a wide porch across the 
entire front. It so happened that a young doctor 
and his wife occupied the other side of the house, 
and the front portico was the common retreat 
in the long summer evenings. He loved to tell of 
the majestic forests of fir and pine trees, fifteen 
feet in diameter and three hundred feet high, of 
the grand rivers, rich soil, and its great future. It 
was not until 1848 that word reached the States 
of the tragic disaster at Waiilatpui, and the death 
of his dear friends. Dr. and Mrs. Whitman. The 
incidents and heroism of their lives were told 
by the eloquent, earnest congressman, in a way 
that made a deep and lasting impression upon the 
young doctor and his good wife. They were seri- 
ously casting about for some wider field in life, and 
were almost persuaded to make Oregon their future 
home. Upon the homeward journey to Oregon in 
1850, Congressman Thurston lost his hfe in a great 
ocean disaster upon the Pacific. The writer was 
in Oregon at the time, and well remembers the 
wave of sorrow that spread throughout the terri- 
tory. After the death of Thurston, the young 
doctor gave up the Far Western journey, but he 
still had "the western fever," removed to Illinois, 



i8o Whitman*s Ride 



and bought a small farm. Prospecting through 
that state, Wisconsin and Michigan, he made 
up his mind that there was money in pine land, 
and beginning in a small way, marketed the timber, 
and made money. He at once invested all his 
money in pine timberland, bought and sold, and 
ever bought more pine, and the time came when 
he could readily sell for four times the cost of it. 
He was an observant man, and his success in locat- 
ing and selling, by his straightforward way of doing 
business, soon attracted the attention of capitalists, 
and they persuaded him to settle in Chicago and 
buy and sell for them. Soon an immense business 
was in his hands, which continued for years, and 
left him with a fortune. He wearied with the years 
of intense business activity, retired, and said to 
himself, here is a snug little fortune, what is to be 
done with it? In the language of a notable address, 
delivered by the doctor before a great audience at 
Battle Creek, when he said, "These dead hands 
can carry nothing out! What, gentlemen, are you 
going to do with your money.'*" He soon settled 
upon a plan to spend his, and that was to use it 
through deserving struggling Colleges, to give to 
poor young men and women an intellectual, 
moral, and religious training. He believed that 
every institution for its permanency and security 
should have a healthy, interested, money-giving 



The Memorials to Whitman i8i 



constituency about it, and so he gave in a way 
to induce others to give, and aids no institution 
v^here the Bible and moral training are neglected. 
I scarcely need tell my intelligent readers this per- 
son is D. K. Pearsons, M.D., LL.D., of Chicago, 
nov^^ eighty-six years old. 

I have given, in brief, a sketch of his work in 
this connection, first because of his direct associa- 
tion with it, and secondly, because it pointedly 
marks what we have tried to show from historic 
facts in all the chapters — that Power higher than 
man's power can be traced and studied. 

We often speak of all such as "accidental hap- 
penings." Were they? Did the four Flathead 
chiefs accidentally, in 1831-32, appear in the 
streets of St. Louis upon their strange mission 
and there meet their old friend the great red-head 
chief? Were Drs. Whitman and Spalding and 
their wives accidentally in Oregon? Was his 
heroic ride to save Oregon in 1842 an accident? 
Was it accidental that he was on the border in 1843 
to lead that great immigration to Oregon in safety? 
The Oregon of to-day was dependent upon the 
safety of that great company in 1843. Was it all 
accidental that Congressman Thurston met Dr. 
Pearsons in 1848-49 at Chicopee, Massachu- 
setts, and by "words fitly spoken," that forty- 
five years after he had rested in his watery grave 



82 Whitman's Ride 



were found to be "apples of gold in pictures of 
silver' ' ? 

We all view such events from different stand- 
points, and I do not stop to argue, only to state 
facts historically accurate. There are accidents in 
the physical world from violated laws certainly, but 
in the moral uplift of the race there seems to be 
an invisible hand, and an agency greater than man's 
power. Wise as the race has grown, we cannot 
understand and explain the mysteries that surround 
us. I see the poor young Doctor in 1848 strug- 
gling to master his professional work, and I see him 
again in 1894, old and rich, and in January of that 
year, he sat musing by the fire in his winter home 
in Georgia, and he took his pen and wrote: 

LiTHiA Springs, Georgia, January, 1894. 
To THE President of Whitman College, Walla Walla, 

Washington: — 
Dear Sir: 

I will give Whitman College fifty thousand dollars for 
endowment, provided friends of the College will raise one hun- 
dred and fifty thousand additional, 

Yours, 

D. K. Pearsons. 

Some may say '* Nothing strange in that. Dr. 
Pearsons had made large gifts to thirty-four differ- 
ent colleges. ' ' That is true. I one day asked him, 
"Did any one ever ask that gift to Whitman Col- 
lege?" He replied, "No; no one asked me for a 




REV. S. B. L. PENROSE, PRESIDENT OF WHITMAN COLLEGE 



The Memorials to Whitman 183 

dollar, and the president of the college evidently 
thought my proposition preposterous, for he never 
even replied to my letter." It was in the dark 
days of the college. President Eaton was a good 
man, but he had lost the strong faith of his pre- 
decessors, and soon after resigned. Just then 
the Yale Band of Missionaries invaded Washing- 
ton, and Rev. S. B. L. Penrose, a man of Eells 
faith and Whitman's courage and perseverance, 
was chosen president. He at once visited Dr. 
Pearsons, thanked him for his generous offer, and 
set about his task of raising the money. The diffi- 
culty was in getting a start. On June 20, 1895, the 
book **How Marcus Whitman Saved Oregon" was 
published in Chicago, and on the Fourth of July, 
Sunday, two weeks later, forty ministers in Chicago 
and neighboring places took Marcus Whitman as a 
patriotic text. Many of them took up collections 
for the memorial college, and the Congregational 
Club gave its check for one thousand dollars. Vir- 
ginia Dox, an eloquent and enthusiastic pleader, 
took up the work, carrying it through Michigan, 
along northern and central Ohio and all New Eng- 
land from Maine to Massachusetts, and the one 
hundred and fifty thousand was raised, and the 
Doctor's fifty thousand added. The Doctor, in 
the meanwhile has paid off the mortgage debt of 
thirteen thousand five hundred dollars. Every- 



184 Whitman's Ride 

thing looked brighter. But the buildings were poor 
and over-crowded, the campus of five acres too 
small. It was a good fortune which enabled the 
directors to buy eighteen acres adjoining, and ad- 
mirably adapted for the purpose. 

Dr. Pearsons then said, "You need a dormitory 
for young men, where they can be cheaply and 
comfortably fed and housed, and I will give fifty 
thousand dollars to erect a memorial building to 
Dr. and Mrs. Whitman if others will erect the 
dormitory. ' ' Through the aid of Mrs. Billings of 
New York (the largest giver), Billings and Memorial 
halls went up simultaneously. Then Dr. Pearsons 
said, the girls need a dormitory as well as the 
boys, let others build it, and I will give fifty thou- 
sand to endowment. It was done. 

The people of Walla Walla, though possessed 
of no surplus wealth, came nobly to the rescue and 
contributed several thousand dollars, and the poor 
professors and many students literally gave "all 
that they had, even all their living, ' ' in making up 
the required sum. And so it has been from the be- 
ginning a college built by faith and self-denial. It 
has still many great needs, but its friends still hope 
and believe that its wants will be supplied. 

Some time ago the writer read the story of an 
orphan newsboy, a waif of the streets, but a manly 
little chap. He attended a mission Sunday school 



The Memorials to Whitman 185 

and became a Christian boy. Some weeks later, 
one of the smart young men half-sneeringly said to 
the boy, as he looked at his broken shoes and tat- 
tered garments, **Well, my boy, if I believed in 
God as you do, I would ask Him to tell some of 
those rich church people to give me some better 
shoes and nicer clothes." The little fellow looked 
troubled for a moment, and then replied, "I expect 
He did, but they forgot." 

It was one of the great characteristics of the 
men and women of these pages, that they listened, 
heard, and never "forgot." 

The world to-day, and in the generation to 
follow, is in need of strong men and noble women. 
Greater problems than the fathers have solved will 
the sons be called to solve. Be ready for them. 
Mistaken Christian teachers have sometimes used 
the words *' Prepare to die." Change them to 
read * ' Prepare to live, ' ' and may you live long and 
bless the world by your living. In this land of 
ours, the poorest can aspire to and reach out for 
grand achievements. The poor, half-orphan boy, 
conning his lessons by a pine knot fire in his grand- 
father Whitman's old New England home, or as he 
went through his classical course, and the study of 
his profession, then learned to be a millwright, and 
learned all about machinery, perhaps never dreamed 
of the great work he was to be called to do. He 



1 86 Whitman*s Ride 



simply did it all well! That is the key which 
unlocks the future good things of earth, and swings 
wide open the everlasting doors of the eternal 
world. You are here for work in a broad field, 
and while you toil, be happy, joyous, contented, 
and make others the same. The children of 
earth are in partnership with the Great Ruler of 
the universe in the moral government of this world. 
His great law is love. Love is the greatest word 
in the language. The Bible represents God's love, 
as "like a flowing river." Drink deep of it, as 
have our heroes and heroines, and when taps are 
sounded, whether in the quiet of your homes or 
amid the yells of savage men, as befell our loved 
ones, you can say with St. Paul, even when the 
feet of his murderers echoed from the walls of his 
dungeon, "I have fought a good fight, I have fin- 
ished my course, I have kept the faith, thenceforth 
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. ' ' 
You can sing with Tennyson in his age: 

"Twilight and evening bell, 
And after that the dark ; 
And may there be no sadness of farewell 
When I embark. 

"And though from out the bourne of Time and Place 
The flood may bear me far, 
I hope to see my Pilot face to face 
When I have crossed the bar." 

THE END. 



